APY Lands, Governance

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:01): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation about the ongoing governance issues on the APY lands.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: The minister will recall that I asked him a question about the status of the APY General Manager on 16 October. In the minister's answer he alluded to the inappropriateness with which Mr Deans had been removed. He also stated that he would seek the views of the APY Executive and review of the APY Lands Rights Act of 1998. A number of APY elders have made representations to me requesting action from the minister and the appointment of an administrator on the basis of malfeasance. My questions to the minister are:

1. Has the minister acted on the statements he made to this place on 16 October?

2. Will the minister now appoint an administrator for the APY lands as per the act?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:02): I thank the honourable member for his most important question and his continuing interest in these important topics. I need to correct his opening statement slightly. He paraphrased me, I think is probably the kindest way of putting it; he is not quite the devil that the Hon. Mr Wade is when he gets up and uses his tricksy lawyer-speak to verbal me. But in this case he made some comment about what I said last time, and I take issue with him about that. If you check the Hansard, I did not in fact say those things. It is very important that we are absolutely precise in what we say on this matter.

As I previously advised, I understand that at the meeting of 15 October this year the APY Executive resolved to terminate the employment of the general manager, Mr Bruce Deans. On 16 October I wrote to the APY chairperson requesting written reasons regarding the termination of Mr Deans, and their views on the review of the act, by 23 October. I received this response on 22 October, and I can add now that on Friday 31 October I met with the APY interim general manager and APY's legal representatives on a range of issues, including the recent termination of the general manager. At this point there is not much more that I can say on the topic, but for those people who are trying to encourage me towards a course of action, I would encourage them to go and read the act and see what actions are open to the minister in this regard.