Page 2031 - Week 07 - Thursday, 24 June 2021
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MR HANSON: Minister, does your government have any intentions to close the Stromlo 50-metre pool and, if so, when will you be advising the community about what is going on?
MS BERRY: I will need to take that question on notice too.
MR DAVIS: A supplementary.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Davis.
MR DAVIS: Minister, can you confirm that all pools in the ACT will be included as part of the government’s ongoing work for a facilities management plan?
MADAM SPEAKER: Ms Berry, if that is related to maintenance of the pools—
MS BERRY: I am not quite sure I understand the question, whether that is for me to announce some future commitment that the government might be making; so I might just have a look at the question.
MADAM SPEAKER: No, we will let the question go.
Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders—elected body
DR PATERSON: My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. Can you please update the Assembly on the process for the upcoming Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body elections?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Dr Paterson for her interest in the elected body elections and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs more broadly, which I know is of great interest to her. As Dr Paterson notes, the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body is currently going through its election process. As members are aware, the elected body was first formed in 2008 as a democratic mechanism for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in the ACT to advocate on issues that are of importance to them and to scrutinise government action against those priorities.
The ACT’s elected body is the first and remains one of only two state or territory elected First Nation bodies, with Victoria having a First Peoples’ assembly specifically related to its treaty process. Other jurisdictions have advisory bodies, but members are appointed, not elected.
Since its formation the elected body has held its elections every three years in 2011, 2014 and to 2017. The next election was due to be held in 2020, but it was delayed due to the impacts of the pandemic. We are now well underway in the election process, with the elected body in caretaker mode. Candidates were declared earlier this month, and I was very pleased to see a mix of experienced elected body members—both from the current caretaker elected body and previous elected bodies—and new face us among the 18 candidates vying for election.
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