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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-04 Daily Xml
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APY LANDS, FOOD SECURITY

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (14:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation on the topic of food security and the administration of AARD.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Members will be very well aware that, back on 9 April in this place, the minister made a statement about the changed machinery within government of the Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Division. In that, he said that AARD:

...within the Department of the Premier and Cabinet will sharpen its role as a provider of policy advice to government while its remaining service delivery functions will be incorporated into operational agencies. Implementation of the new administrative arrangements will be managed by a working group overseen by the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment. These changes will enable...agencies to focus on improving service delivery outcomes for Aboriginal people.

The South Australian government is also committed to enabling local Aboriginal organisations and communities to contribute to the delivery of services and opportunities for Aboriginal people at the local level. The Aboriginal Reconciliation Division will continue to be the government's lead agency on Aboriginal Affairs matters.

Consequent to this, within the framework of the Budget and Finance Committee, I asked questions of DPC-AARD, the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion, and the Department for Education and Child Development as to who would be managing the food security project and in what components they would be undertaking that management come 1 July this year.

I have received conflicting answers. I have been told, just a week before 1 July, by Joslene Mazel of DCSI that discussions were still in train. I was told by Nerida Saunders, and indeed the Hon. Michelle Lensink was told by Nerida Saunders, that gardens had in fact been replanted at Sandy Bore and Railway Bore and that discussions were happening at a local community level with the Stephanie Alexander garden project, only to have a letter in the last week from Ms Saunders correcting the record and saying that that was not in fact the case. Indeed, I had a response from the Department for Education and Child Development's CEO that they have no knowledge of where the gardens project is up to. Given that we have had conflict in accounts from these three departments, I ask the minister to put on the record:

1. What components of the food security strategy have been allocated to which departments?

2. What level of funding has been allocated to those departments, and for what purposes?

3. Have the gardens been replanted, as the minister promised, in these cooler months and, if not, how much cooler does the minister want it to get?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:55): I am very pleased to take this question and I am sorry that the honourable member was confused when she was given some answers, so I will put it to her straight. As of 1 July, food security is the responsibility of—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: —the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion. Discussions about the handover are of course still in train, but the responsibility lies with the Department of Communities and Social Inclusion.

The gardens, as I have said in this place before, will be transferred through to the Department for Education and Child Development (DECD). That process is happening, as I understand it. In fact, I was talking to a gentleman the other day who is responsible for some work at Sandy Bore garden, and he says that it is flourishing. They are getting a lot of tomatoes at the moment and some other fruit, and he tells me that he loves the garden. Sandy Bore, at least, seems to be working very well and, as I said, the process of the transition of the other gardens through to DECD will be ongoing.

The other aspect of food security which is very important, although not recognised as such sometimes, is our incredible increased funding for roads. We are going to get the roads from the highway through to at least Pukatja, I think; it is going to be given to DPTI and they will be putting in a proper road which will allow for better, all-weather transport through the system.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Bitumen or what?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Well, no, Hon. Mr Brokenshire, it will not be bitumen. I have told you in this place before what it will be, but it will not be the old graded level of road that sits below the road surface and, as such, prone to flooding. That is the best information I can give to the honourable member. DCSI will be responsible for food security, DPTI for road funding and the gardens will be transferred to education and science, functioning through DECD.

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