Oil and Gas Sector

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (15:32): Last supplementary, sir: can the minister advise the house whether this is a process which is open to all applications or just in his departments?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:32): Mr Speaker, we have just appointed a new role of Coordinator-General in South Australia and through that process we are seeking to simplify all of the regulatory processes and approvals for projects which are over $3 million and, at discretion, any project can be drawn into that process.

I received the most recent briefing just today on that process from Mr Jim Hallion, the former secretary of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. There are 200 projects which have been called in for consideration under that project. Many of them are becoming fast-tracked through the very intelligent and helpful advice that he is providing through that process. What he is also learning, because he also is responsible for the simpler regulation unit that we have established, are new processes and ways in which we can cut the red tape. You would have thought—it's a timely question because on this one-year anniversary of the re-election of this government this is one of the new initiatives—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Was that congratulations? No.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: He did endorse us.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley has just interjected three times. He will leave for an hour under the sessional order.

The honourable member for Unley having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's disappointing, sir, I would have liked an audience for this. The particular simplifications of processes where we can speed things up, where we can anticipate the needs of applicants, where we can actually use, frankly, the department of mining and energy (with their first-class reputation in a red-free sense) to guide the way in which other agencies conduct their work, is something that we will pursue. We have already seen that in the fisheries area with the way in which we regulate the tuna industry with a 90-day project which did something which seemed elementary on the face of it, but a number of processes which were done in sequence are now done in parallel.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point of order, Mr Speaker. I ask you to bring the Premier back to the substance of the question which was whether other sectors of the business community can have their applications assessed before they are lodged.

The SPEAKER: I will listen to what the Premier has to say.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: This is precisely what I am talking about. What we are seeking to do is to take the processes and model that are used in our excellent mines and energy part of government and actually use that as a guide and a model for other parts of the Public Service. This is precisely what we should be doing and it is precisely what we are doing. I gave the example of another agency, PIRSA, that has—

Ms Vlahos interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Taylor is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —simplified the processes for the regulatory approval in the tuna industry. Instead of dealing with things in sequence, we deal with things in parallel. Instead of dealing with things at a particular time of year when they are busy, we deal with it at times of the year when they are off season where we can give—rather than it be this game of hide-and-seek and you put an application in and we will tell you where you got it wrong, we can actually assist people to tell them what the nature of the requirements are so that they can meet that requirement. This does not offend probity, this does not affect the quality or the integrity of the decision-making process, it simply amounts to a proper bias for approval that should exist. If we can approve something in the public interest, we should seek to do that and, if those opposite—

Ms Vlahos interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Taylor is warned for the first time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Those opposite are fond of describing the nature of the economic challenge in front of South Australia but, when we do something to try to address it, they are there with all their nitpicking, carping, negative observations about why nothing should ever change in this state. You are what is wrong with South Australia. They are what is wrong with South Australia.