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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-03-24 Daily Xml
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Remote Aboriginal Communities, Electricity Infrastructure

The Hon. S.G. WADE (16:26): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation questions relating to electricity supply to Aboriginal communities.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The licence in relation to electricity supply in South Australia's remote Aboriginal communities is held by the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy. In October 2012, the Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation agency, then part of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, contacted Bushlight, the energy division of the Centre for Appropriate Technology, to undertake a demand management project in remote Aboriginal communities. Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation received Bushlight's final report in mid 2013. My questions to the minister are:

1. Is the government continuing to reform electricity supply to South Australia's remote Aboriginal communities?

2. Is Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation leading this work or does it rest with the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy?

3. What action has the government taken in response to the Bushlight report?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (16:27): I thank the honourable member for his very important question and I can assure the member that the government is always looking at better ways to provide services, not just to Aboriginal communities, but to South Australians in general. In relation to the specific report, I don't have information in front of me on the very specific questions he has.

Strictly, the provision of electrical services is not within the portfolio of Aboriginal Affairs which at the time, as the honourable member correctly pointed out, was in Premier and Cabinet. The Aboriginal Affairs Division is now within the Department of State Development, but even so, the Aboriginal Affairs Division does not have the lead responsibility for the provision of services like electrical services, but I will endeavour to refer those specific questions to the minister responsible and bring back a reply.

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