Page 2614 - Week 07 - Thursday, 1 August 2019
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MR HANSON: The comments that that side of the chamber were all laughing at? Are they the ones you are talking about?
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, do not test me.
MR HANSON: Okay, Madam Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. Minister, you have made the commitment on many occasions that Boomanulla Oval will be run for and by the Indigenous community. Why is the ACT government running this important community asset?
MADAM SPEAKER: Minister Berry, you are taking that question?
MS BERRY: Yes, Madam Speaker. It falls into my portfolio area of responsibility of sport and recreation. The ACT government along with the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs have been working very closely with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, including the elected body, to work on a pathway forward to return Boomanulla Oval to Aboriginal ownership and management.
As we work through that process the government will be managing the booking system of Boomanulla Oval with a very strong desire to return it to Aboriginal and Torres Strait ownership and management.
MR HANSON: What has been the usage of the oval since it reopened on 25 May this year?
MS BERRY: I do not have that detail with me so I will have to get that information and bring it back to the Assembly for members. I know that the formal opening of the oval has been well received by a very excited Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, and particularly by the Boomanulla Raiders Rugby League teams, who are able to call that oval their home ground again.
There is still some work to do on that site. There is also lots of work to be done to bring that site to a place where it can still maintain that strong spiritual and cultural heritage that is so important not just to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community but to everyone in the ACT community. As I said, we will continue to work with the elected body and the community about how we return that to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander management.
MR MILLIGAN: Minister, what role has the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Islander Affairs played in giving advice as to the model under which you would hand back Boomanulla Oval to the Indigenous community?
MS BERRY: Rachel Stephen-Smith, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs minister, and I both work very closely hand in hand with the Elected Body and with the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs to work on what that model will actually look like.
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