Question Time

GM HOLDEN

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:22): My question is to the Premier. How many officers from within which departments have been given specific responsibility to work with Holden to resolve the issues facing the motor vehicle business and to manage the assistance package the company has been offered?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:23): I thank the honourable member for her question. As I understand it, she is talking about the current arrangements that are in place, not the arrangements that we are about to embark upon a discussion about.

The resources of the government that have been applied to both the negotiation and prosecution of the terms of the arrangement with General Motors Holden have actually spanned a number of agencies: the Department of the Premier and Cabinet in its economic development role; the Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology; the Department for Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy; and of course, the Department of Treasury and Finance.

Each of those agencies has been engaged in the negotiation and the prosecution of the benefits that are contained within that particular set of arrangements. The efforts to this point have been focusing on the preparatory work in relation to the global supply chain issues, introducing component manufacturers here in South Australia to the international supply chains for General Motors Holden, which is a material condition of the agreement we entered into.

One of the important reasons why I inserted myself into the negotiations was because we wanted this agreement to be about more than just handing over money in return for an investment of a billion dollars. That is one of the essential terms of the agreement that we entered into with General Motors. That work has begun and has been supervised by officers within the Department for Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy. More recently we have also engaged with the officers and officials from the EDB and they are supporting my role of pursuing the arrangements that we now seek to adjust with General Motors.