Government Procurement

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:23): A supplementary: while the minister is busy doing that, could he also make sure that all barriers that can be removed have been removed to ensure greater success for local businesses, especially for supply of stationery to all government departments and offices with regard to the WARP and the IPP?

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) (15:23): Yes, I will. I should say that the government has been very keen to be supportive of procurement from local sources generally. With regard to this particular topic, again, she has asked me the second or third question that I wasn't ready for today. But if you had asked me what is our general policy about procurement, I would say to you that we have done a great deal to try to ensure that not only is the government procuring from South Australian companies where possible but we are also asking the companies with whom we do enter into contracts to have subcontractors and suppliers who are South Australian.

That is something that we have been quite keen to try to pursue and I see other ministers here who know more about the details of this than I do, but we even have, I think, Mr Nightingale, who spends a great deal of his time getting into this. I do know that Mr Nightingale pops up frequently when there are discussions about procurement, and is a very fierce advocate for local South Australian producers, contractors and so forth. Again, I will get the detailed answer for the member, along with the answer to the first question.