SA minister orders settlement over APY management row

SA Attorney-General Kyam Maher has intervened in a dispute over the management of the remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands.

South Australian Attorney-General Kyam Maher with Nunga Court Elder Aunty Yvonne Agius (background). Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

South Australian Attorney-General Kyam Maher has intervened in a dispute over the management of the remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, relying on a rarely used section of the state’s Land Rights Act to order its leaders to meet to resolve the matter.

Mr Maher, who is also the state’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister, wrote to members of the APY Lands executive board on March 3 following conflicts over the management of the seven communities on the lands.

The dispute appears to have ­escalated over the tenure of Richard King, who had been general manager of the APY Lands for about eight years when some members tried to remove him last October.

The Australian has been told those board members believed Mr King’s time at APY was over because his contract was due to expire and they chose not to renew it.

Mr King issued a statement last month that was highly critical of some board members.

“Certain members of the APY executive board cannot be ­allowed to continue their dysfunctional behaviour and play petty politics to the detriment of those who were elected to represent and which is affecting the lives of community members,” Mr King is quoted as saying in the media ­release.

APY deputy chair Owen Burton told The Australian on Monday that the board would meet Tuesday, in keeping with Mr Maher’s order that it must meet to resolve the issue of the position of general manager by Friday.

“We don’t want an administrator or things like that,” Mr Burton said.

“We are going the right way about this.”

A copy of the letter from Mr Maher to APY chair Bernard Singer obtained by The Australian states that the position of general manager “remains unresolved”.  “I am satisfied that this issue, if it remains unresolved, will result in detriment to Anungu,” Mr Maher said in the letter.

A spokesman for Mr Maher told The Australian: “The minister has directed the board to resolve the issue of general manger of APY Lands … Any decision regarding the position of the general manager is for the executive board to determine.”