Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

No. He is not correct. It should not cause alarm, given that we have provided, as Mr Marmion has stated, some $90 million funding for an additional three years into the future. The agreement is that in three years Western Australia will take responsibility for the delivery of municipal services in all of those communities. So they have absolutely nothing to worry about.

It does disturb me, though, that there seems to be a bit of a change from that side; when you were in government, you tried to do exactly the same thing. You went to Western Australia; you went to South Australia; you went to Queensland; you went to Tasmania; and you went to Victoria. You wanted to ensure that the provision of municipal services was translated back to the jurisdiction that should have been doing it. But, like most things in Indigenous Affairs, you did not have the grunt and you failed.