Member for Frome, Government Agreement

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:45): Supplementary, sir. Given that the Premier has now confirmed that, indeed, the Premier offered to have a stand-alone department for regional development, I ask the member for Frome why he turned down that very generous offer.

The SPEAKER: You would ask him in his capacity as the Minister for Regional Development. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:45): I am happy to answer on behalf of the government. We reached an agreement that was based on what both the member for Frome and representatives of the Labor Party believed was in the best interests of the future of the state. I think the member for Frome has secured an upgraded set of arrangements for the governance of regional development in South Australia—which was just settled upon, in fact, at the cabinet meeting on Monday. Substantial additional resources have now been applied to that part of the governance of the state that concerns regional development, and it was necessary to supply substantial resources to do that.

Of course, the minister at all times, and this is to his credit, has always been trying to balance the idea of making sure that he has the right bureaucratic support with also making sure that he maximises the dollars that he can put out on the ground in the regions. That is one of the reasons why I offered, and we thought it might be appropriate for him to have, some substantial upgrade in his office at Port Pirie, and he told me he could not justify the extra tens of thousands of dollars that would be necessary to make those changes in his office. He preferred to take that money and actually spend it on the ground.

I am sure he would have got three cheers if people saw a much bigger office in Port Pirie to reflect his additional ministerial responsibilities but he said, 'No, I don't want that. I will try to live within my existing office envelope and use the money that we save on that and spend it in the regions.' I think that is to his credit. The fact that he has not accepted some massive piece of additional bureaucracy but, rather, wanted to plough that back into regions reflects the sort of person that the member for Frome is. I think that's why he is being incredibly well received around this state and is, I think, well accepted as a great part of our team.

The SPEAKER: Would the leader please be seated? The member for Adelaide is warned for the first time and the member for Stuart is warned for the first time. This would be a fourth supplementary, by my reckoning. Could we just make it another question?