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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-15 Daily Xml
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APY LANDS, ANANGU FAMILY SUPPORT

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:41): Can the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation inform the house as to what steps are being taken to provide further support to Anangu families in the APY lands?

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:41): I thank the honourable member for her question and acknowledge her commitment to Aboriginal people and their communities. At the beginning of this month the commonwealth and South Australian governments announced a number of collaborative initiatives aimed largely at supporting families in the APY lands.

The state government is working closely with the commonwealth and, very importantly, with the Anangu to boost and better target support for Anangu families in dealing with the challenges they face. For instance, the commonwealth is investing in a new intensive family-support service, which provides for additional social workers and Aboriginal family support workers who will work closely with parents in their homes to improve knowledge and skills about meeting the health, nutrition and educational needs of children.

The South Australian government's APY child protection team, which includes school-based and specialist child protection workers, will receive extra forensic training to assist them in the critically important task of protecting vulnerable children.

The new Mintabie lease and agreement that has been signed by the APY executive and the South Australian government will provide for the licensing of residential, commercial, community and other sites for Mintabie. The new arrangements under the lease, along with the implementation of the new APY stores policy, are expected to assist the APY executive in addressing a range of unscrupulous consumer and other practices.

Support will also be offered to the APY executive through a store compliance and education officer with responsibilities which will include monitoring adherence to the new lease and licence conditions and the reporting of breaches. A new family mental health support service will also be established in the APY lands, which will help in building capacity to respond to the needs of children and young people at risk of mental illness. The service will focus on working closely with families and community organisations to offer intensive practical assistance and early intervention.

In the area of family violence, the state government has agreed to partner the commonwealth, the Western Australian and the Northern Territory governments in establishing a cross-border information and intelligence service to be run by the police, which will facilitate improved information sharing between agencies and service providers in order to tackle domestic violence.

It is important to note that a lot of good work is being undertaken in the APY lands, a lot of it being driven by the Anangu themselves. That is not to say that there is not still a need to better coordinate the support and resources offered because there is, but, unlike the member for Morphett, I have a positive view for the future of the Anangu—

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order: the minister is debating the answer to the question.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Minister, contain your remarks. Be careful, they are very sensitive.

The Hon. P. CAICA: I have a positive view about the future of the APY lands and that positive view is being underpinned by the fact that we need to work with Anangu front and centre with respect to what needs to be their vision for their lands. I was a bit confused about the opposition's position in relation to the APY lands—

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order: I don't believe that the opposition's position has any relevance to the question that was asked.

The SPEAKER: No, there is no point of order there. You have not heard what the minister has said. Minister.

The Hon. P. CAICA: —in which the member for Morphett referred to artificial communities on the APY lands—artificial communities. The only thing artificial are the views of the member for Morphett about the lands.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order: the minister is—

The SPEAKER: Yes, you do not need to state your point of order. Minister, you know better. Can you stick to your answer please and not reflect on others?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: I promise not to respond to interjections, Madam Speaker, and I am happy, then, to offer the member for Morphett some briefings on the very good work that is being undertaken up there which may better inform his views. These initiatives—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett, order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: I will say this, you can't get a deep understanding by occasionally squeezing into moleskins, whacking on the R.M. Williams boots and making reckless statements from Yulara.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: You just can't do that. You would be better off spending a little bit of time up there. These initiatives—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will sit down until we have some order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! It is important that I hear the answer to this question; it is my area. Minister.

The Hon. P. CAICA: The initiatives that I have been speaking about build on the work that is already underway to assist Anangu meet the challenges that they face. This includes the three new family wellbeing centres which should be completed by the end of the year, additional housing delivered through the National Partnership on Remote Indigenous Housing, and additional police, police stations and staff accommodation. I look forward, in a bipartisan way I hope, to working with the opposition with respect to—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Well, don't go out there and make stupid statements.

The SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired. Minister, your four minutes is up. Can you take a seat please?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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