Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-09-20 Daily Xml

Contents

APY Lands, Regional Partnership Agreement

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:49): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation in relation to the APY Lands Regional Partnership Agreement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The honourable minister, please refrain from talking: we want to hear the Hon. Mr Wade's question.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: On 7 August 2013, a three-year Aboriginal APY Lands Regional Partnership Agreement came into effect. The agreement aimed to address social and economic challenges on the APY lands. There were three parties to the agreement: the APY Executive Board, the Commonwealth of Australia and the government of South Australia.

The then Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, the Hon. Ian Hunter, signed the agreement on behalf of the state. Under the terms of the agreement, schedules were to be developed 'in line with the priorities identified by Anangu and the Regional Partnership Authority.' These schedules were to be 'formally created under this agreement by approval of the Regional Partnership Authority.' The term of the agreement was for three years, that is until 7 August 2016, unless all parties agree to an extension. My question to the minister is: how many schedules were created and formally signed off on under the agreement?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:50): I thank the honourable member for his question. There is a huge range of different ways in which not just the state government but the federal government interacts with APY and supplies services to APY, ranging from the federal government's Empowered Communities program through to NPY Women's Council and the agreements we have with organisations like Nganampa Health and the programs that they roll out. In relation to this particular partnership, I don't have the details in front of me about particular schedules to a particular partnership, but I am happy to go away, find answers to those and bring them back very quickly.