Riverbank Authority

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:50): My question is to the Minister for Planning. If it was the government's intention that the Riverbank Authority would only be a curator of space or a party to attract investment to the precinct that is outlined in his announcement today, why did it promulgate regulations in February, two days before caretaker mode this year, that it would have a role in the planning of the precinct of the area?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (14:51): It will, in the sense that they will be consulted about the progress of any project going on in the area. If the member for Bragg is concerned that the actual wording of the regulation is unsatisfactory and doesn't enable them to do what I've said they're going to do, I am happy to hear what her complaint about that it is.

The fact is that if you have a contracting agency for and on behalf of government in relation to the delivery of project management, it is self-evident if you have a look at the constitution of the Riverbank Authority that they are not, by reason of their method of formation, equipped in the same way, for example, as the project management team in DPTI, who are expert people in building project management to do that sort of role. Clearly, the government in making any decision about who was going to be doing particular jobs in particular contexts would be looking to the people who could best deliver.

The other point I think I should make too is that everybody seems entirely preoccupied, perhaps understandably, with the small piece of the Riverbank Precinct which is immediately adjacent to this building, that is between here and the footbridge and King William Street, but of course that is not the whole Riverbank Precinct. Mr Speaker, the Riverbank Precinct actually commences at Gilberton and terminates in your electorate, I believe, at Clipsal. It is a very large piece of real estate that this organisation is supposed to be curating and managing.

In the context of parts of that, there may be bits and pieces that are managed in a different way and that is a matter for the future, but the questions that have been asked of me today have been about this area immediately adjacent to Parliament House.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Yes, it is falling apart and the reason is, it—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Did somebody—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: There are many things, Mr Speaker, that one—

Ms Sanderson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Adelaide to order.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: There are many things that we can say are some of the achievements of 12 years of Labor government. One of them is not concrete cancer in the car park adjacent to Parliament House. That was managed all by itself and it is something that, irrespective of whether there was a Labor or a Liberal government, there would have to be something done about it and we are going to be doing something about it. That car park cannot stay as it is, will not stay as it is and has to be redeveloped.