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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-10-19 Daily Xml
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Question Time

MINISTER FOR ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND RECONCILIATION

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation. Why should the public have confidence in the minister when respected Indigenous leader Noel Pearson recently said about the APY lands that the state Labor government is 'completely bereft of any kind of real solution'?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers, Minister Assisting the Premier in Social Inclusion) (14:16): I thank the honourable member for this important question. Of course I think that the public should have confidence in this government, because we have an outstanding record when it comes to what we have—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: We have, by any stretch of anyone's imagination, on any measure on any indicator, a very, very good record—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Norwood!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: I am going to give the members opposite a bit of an education in relation to this. In relation to community safety, in May 2008 the state government commissioned the Mullighan inquiry, that has transformed people's lives—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Norwood, you are warned.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Well, they asked the question. We established new police complexes at Amata, Ernabella and Mimili; police moved in in April 2010. We have increased minister Rankine's department's funding to the NPY Women's Council to extend family violence support services; we have upgraded the school at Amata; we have developed a diploma of interpreting training program with some 15 graduates—and I have had the honour of meeting a number of those graduates—an expansion of the very successful Wiltja program at Woodville High School. In relation to health, petrol sniffing has been reduced to very, very low levels.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Immunisation coverage—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! It was a very broad ranging question; the minister can answer as she chooses.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Norwood will behave.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Immunisation coverage is around 95 per cent, which is much better than the national average. Country Health SA is currently arranging—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Bragg!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: —for the first visit of a mobile dialysis bus to the APY lands, which is planned for October 2011, and there is a new mobile dental surgery at Pukatja. The list goes on: we have introduced a visiting mental health service to the APY lands; we have led the way for national partnerships to promote Indigenous housing, providing nearly $300 million over 10 years for housing in remote areas—and I congratulate the Minister for Housing for her work. The list—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Bragg is warned.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: The list goes on and on. I would also like to refer to one other document, if I may, from Better World Arts.

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Unley!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will sit down until we get some order in this place. If members on my left want to continue to ask questions they'd better behave or I'll refer them all to the right. Minister.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: I would like to refer in closing to an email I received from Better World Arts. We are all, of course, familiar with this organisation that does outstanding work in Port Adelaide. It is dated 29 August. It states:

Dear Grace,

Just watching the 7.30 Report.

I am reading this because this goes to my time as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, and it is referring to the work we are doing in relation to food security and, in particular, one aspect of the food security work, which is the market gardens. It continues:

Congratulations on supporting such an essential initiative. Over a decade ago—

this is what Better World Arts said to me, completely unprompted—

I was interested in working with something like the fruit and vegetable program that is now being set up. Back then, talking to people who had been raised in the missions (on their own country from different centres), they have such great memories of the market gardens in their communities, working there and eating from those gardens. It makes such sense to grow food in a place with so much sunshine and under-employment and to have fresh food produced and eaten locally. There are so many other programs—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: They don't want to hear it. They want to continue talking down people on the lands. It states:

There are so many other programs that can offshoot from this, healthy eating, healthy cooking, small business, exporting food. Let's hope it is well managed and grows.

Kind regards...

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Well, they think that Aboriginal people on the lands do not have the wherewithal to cook for themselves. That is what the leader said.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Light.

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