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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-06-09 Daily Xml
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APY LANDS, COURT FACILITIES

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:07): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation questions about proposed court facilities on the APY lands.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: In April 2008, the Mullighan inquiry recommended that court facilities on the APY lands should be housed separately from the police facilities, yet in November 2009, the government outlined a plan to build new police stations in Amata, Pukatja and Mimili, which would include court facilities.

Until these facilities were completed, court hearings were to be conducted at PY Ku centres in those townships. After the new buildings were completed, the Court Administration Authority, under the guise of separation of powers, which should be respected, preferred not to use the police facilities and said that the PY Ku facilities were adequate.

On 9 October 2009, the government announced that a new court and administration facility would be built at Umuwa, with the help of $4.5 million of federal funding. According to the government, the new facility would supplement the court/police facilities at Amata, Pukatja and Mimili. In November 2009, the government reported that the Magistrates Court would use the centre primarily as a trial facility.

The government stated in the 2009-10 budget that the centre would be completed by June 2010—the project had obviously not even begun by June last year. In September 2010, the government then announced that the Umuwa centre would be completed by June 2011. However, on 24 November, the government further announced:

Improvements to infrastructure within communities have significantly eased the need for court facilities at Umuwa....As a result, the Courts Administration Authority is no longer involved in a planned courts/administration facility at Umuwa. Funding for the facility has come from the commonwealth and negotiation is underway to reconsider the purpose of the planned facility.

In March of this year, the CAA pulled out of the project as the facility would be used 'infrequently' by the courts.

The commonwealth government had stated in its original agreement with the state government that the $4.95 million would be provided for the construction of a court facility at Umuwa only and that no changes had been made allowing it to be spent on anything different. My questions are:

1. Since it has been almost two years since the original funding was released from the federal government, how much interest has the state government earned on those funds?

2. How much was spent on the court facilities attached to police stations at Amata, Pukatja and Mimili? Why were these built in the first place?

3. What improvements in infrastructure have been made which have made the building of a new court facility at Umuwa redundant?

4. What will the federal funding now be spent on? Will it be spent in the APY lands? As it seems that the funding is conditional and there have not been any changes to the original agreement, why doesn't the government build a court centre at Umuwa, which it was meant to do, as outlined in the Mullighan report?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for Gambling) (15:10): I thank the honourable member for his questions and will refer those to the relevant ministers in another place and bring back a response. I have to say, what a hypocrite! I cannot believe that the honourable member can stand straight in this place and ask those questions. He is part of the Liberal Party under which, when it last formed government, I do not believe there were any police stations on the lands; in fact, I do not think there were any police on the lands. They were a government that was completely derelict when it came to the APY Lands.

Not only did they not ever build a police station and did not provide police on the lands, but also they were responsible for the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Select Committee, which I am advised did not meet for a considerable period of time—five years I believe. Derelict; absolutely derelict when it came to the APY lands.

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