House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-09-25 Daily Xml

Contents

Indigenous Communities Funding

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:01): A supplementary to the Premier. Did the Premier agree to South Australia accepting responsibility for municipal service delivery when he was the minister for Aboriginal affairs?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:01): As far as I can remember, no. I think we have been resisting this every time. I do not know what officers might have said, but my position has always been that we have resisted this matter. I do not think we have ever accepted the cuts in MUNS funding. It is something we have put on the agenda every single time that it has been raised with us. I think it was first mooted, frankly, under the Howard government and then if I recall it just kept getting rolled over under the Rudd-Gillard government and now it is being revisited by the Abbott government, seeking to remove that municipal services funding. I think we have resisted it and I think all evidence to the contrary because we continue to be in this phase of negotiation which rather suggests that we have not accepted the reduction in MUNS funding.