House of Assembly Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2) 53 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Planning Policy Planning Policy The Hon. T.R. KENYON House of Assembly Newland Planning Policy The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Planning. How are the government's planning policies encouraging investment in the state? The Hon. J.R. RAU House of Assembly Enfield Deputy Premier Attorney-General Minister for Justice Reform Minister for Planning Minister for Industrial Relations Minister for Child Protection Reform Minister for the Public Sector Minister for Consumer and Business Services Minister for the City of Adelaide Planning Policy The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:55): I thank the member for Newland for that excellent question. I will pick one example: the Osborne shipyard is an example of where our planning policies have helped to enable shipbuilding activities to continue over the years and to make the shipyard the ideal place to build all 12 future submarines, as recently announced by the commonwealth government. Over the years, through the use and support of crown development pathway and the Development Assessment Commission, the development of the Osborne ASC shipyard has expanded. The shipyard currently supports around 1,500 employees by day and approximately another 291 by night. Various planning development applications and approvals over time have seen wharves, offices, workshops, warehouses, education and training facilities and other facilities being built at Osborne, enabling it to be a site for the construction of ships and now the 12 future submarines. With the recent successful passage of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016 we will further significantly enhance our planning system to better encourage investment in the state. In particular, the planning and design code will provide a more consistent and clearer set of planning rules, and together with the new performance-based assessment processes it will provide developers with certainty and confidence to invest by giving them an early yes or no to their development applications. Work on these significant planning reforms has already begun, with reforms to be introduced in stages over a five-year period. The confidence that our planning policies bring to investors was also recognised yesterday with the announcement that Ingham's will be expanding its operations across northern Adelaide and regional South Australia. This investment could yield more than 1,500 jobs. Ingham's executive chairman reportedly said in a statement that our 'investment-friendly environment' was one of the reasons for the investments concentrated in this state, lauding our planning policies amongst other things. The government will work to ensure that our planning policies in South Australia continue to encourage investment and growth. Mr Marshall interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: If the leader would care to stop interjecting, he can ask a question.