Land Services SA

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:44): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer outline to the house what the annual value of ongoing royalty streams will be for the government, following the announcement today of the commercialisation of land services?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:45): That's a very good question. Currently, we receive royalties from the commercialisation of data, which make up about 1 per cent of what we receive from fees and charges out of the Lands Titles Office, so about $6 million per year. The arrangement we have in place now with the new operators is to receive an annual percentage of 12½ per cent of everything they commercialise.

It is important to note that these bodies are much more sophisticated than we are, as a government organisation, about commercialising this data. They are much more entrepreneurial than we are, they have larger markets and they know how to commercialise this data a lot better than government does. It is a good way of making sure that not only are we saving money on processing, getting a very large up-front payment for this service but, importantly, we are maintaining a 12½ per cent royalty on whatever they commercialise. That 12½ per cent rate is locked in for the life of the agreement. I think the government expects to receive a lot more than we are currently receiving from our own attempts to commercialise that data.