Question Time

TOURISM COMMISSION

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is for the Premier. Why did the government appoint former Rann government staffer Rik Morris to the new position of General Manager of the Tourism Commission within days of asking the Tourism Commission to find $1.2 million worth of savings a year in the Mid-Year Budget Review, and how does this appointment save money and flatten the commission's structure, as claimed by the tourism minister today?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:15): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am not aware of the circumstances that led to the appointment of Mr Morris, but can I say this, that the tourism—

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, fake laughter, that is the usual—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —followed by noise.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Fake laughter followed by noise.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left, quiet!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Fake laughter followed by noise and then the Speaker has to intervene. The point about the structure of the Tourism Commission is that, of course, it is a statutory authority. It makes its own decisions about the appointment of staff within the purview of the chief executive of that agency. It is not to be confused—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Would you like to answer this yourself, would you? You seem to have all the answers there.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier is answering the question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, just to take members through it, it is an independent statutory authority, which, of course, is subject to direction by the minister but in a general sense. The circumstances of the announcement today concerned the relevant minister, the tourism minister, requesting that the tourism board, the statutory authority, take certain steps in how it should allocate its resources and expenditure directed at getting better outcomes in terms of tourism and also saving money; and, so, the tourism minister made some general directions.

The tourism board then deliberated on those general directions about how it would respond to the minister's request and made certain recommendations back to the minister, and one of those included the termination of the current chief executive. The minister took that advice to Executive Council this morning, and the Governor approved the termination of the chief executive and—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: There's a constitutional ignoramus over there. Madam Speaker, the other decision that the Governor made on advice from the minister today in Executive Council was to appoint a new chief executive, Jane Jeffreys.

Jane Jeffreys was, of course, the chair of the tourism board. She of course did not participate in the decision that was taken to appoint her or recommend that she be appointed, so that was also confirmed by cabinet today. Those are the matters that occurred today. They will then cause a restructure to be put in place. One of the remits of the restructure is a flatter structure, one which is more efficient but also more effective. They are the things that Ms Jeffreys is charged with the responsibility of implementing, and I am confident that she will do a good job because she is a very well-credentialled executive—

Mrs REDMOND: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order, Leader of the Opposition.

Mrs REDMOND: Point of order, Madam Speaker, on the relevance of the Premier's answer. The question was about how Rik Morris's appointment as a former Labor staffer to a newly-created position of general manager could possibly flatten the structure.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Premier, continue to answer. There is no point of order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, there is no relationship between those two things. That appointment was made some time ago, as I understand it. I am not familiar with when it was made but it was made sometime ago. The decision that was taken today charges a new chief executive with the responsibility of, amongst other things, flattening the structure, looking at ways to create efficiencies within the tourism sector and also to promote better outcomes in terms of the Tourism Commission's work. Those are the—

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Well, if you are happy for the answer to end there, I am more than happy to finish. Thank you.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Deputy leader, behave! The member for Taylor.