Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. Can the minister confirm if the state government will cut its funding to the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics in the 2016-17 financial year and beyond?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (15:07): I thank the member for Chaffey for the question. Of course, this centre was built by this Labor government. When we built it, we said that we will fund it to a point and then everyone else was meant to chip in and help with funding. Over the years, a lot of that funding has dissipated, and what we know is that, as a government, we have been paying over the odds for research that benefits not just South Australian farmers—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Calm your farm. What we want to do is have a fair go for the South Australian taxpayers' money that we are putting in to make sure that it is our farmers who benefit the most out of it. We told them a year ago that we wouldn't be funding it past 30 June—and I wasn't playing chicken. I said, 'Get out there and find another source of funding.' You know what? We have told them we are not going to put the $1 million in and do you know what they are saying now? That they can continue on with the business as they—

Mr Whetstone: You don't care.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Don't say I don't care because I absolutely care, and I particularly care about the good use of South Australian taxpayers' money, so you just calm your farm.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: The llama farmer.