Premier and Cabinet Department

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:51): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on recent appointments within the Department of the Premier and Cabinet?

Mr Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:51): Yes. I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Jim McDowell as the Chief Executive of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Mr McDowell is known to many of the people in this chamber—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and he has been an outstanding servant of this state. Mr McDowell is an incredibly talented leader, with decades of international business experience in industries that are critical to South Australia's future prosperity.

A former chief executive of BAE Systems in Australia and also in the Middle East, Mr McDowell is well placed to guide the South Australian public sector as we seek to take full advantage of the commonwealth naval shipbuilding program and other defence contracts here in South Australia. I also believe that he will play a pivotal role in helping us put forward the very best and most competitive and compelling bid for the hosting of the national space agency here in South Australia.

Recently, Mr McDowell has served as the chancellor of South Australia's largest university, the University of South Australia, and as a board member of several major Australian businesses and community organisations, including the Adelaide Football Club, but also the RAA, Codan and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

I am also pleased to announce and thank Ms Erma Ranieri for her role as the Acting Chief Executive of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet during the transition period. She has done an outstanding job in that role. I am pleased to announce that Erma Ranieri's role as Commissioner for Public Sector Employment will be reconfirmed and indeed expanded. In fact, although she had one year remaining on her existing contract, we have presented her with a new contract for three years with expanded responsibilities. Ms Ranieri has served as the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment since 2014, and I would like to thank her for her past work and also for the work she has agreed to undertake.

In the lead-up to the election I spoke very often about my experiences in the private sector. In the private sector, we know that the most important asset in any organisation—not reflected on the balance sheet but certainly the most important asset in an organisation—are the people who work in that organisation. They are the values that we wish to take into government. We value the people who are working in the Public Service in South Australia. As the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment, Ms Ranieri will be doing a lot of work around the strategic human resource development of the Public Service, workforce planning and leadership development. I am sure she will do an excellent job in this role.

Can I also just highlight that there was another announcement made in recent days and that was the appointment of Ms Rhana Devenport as the new Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia. Ms Devenport has most recently been serving in New Zealand. She has been the Director of the Auckland Art Gallery. I first met Ms Devenport when she was in South Australia as one of the judges of the very first Ramsay Art Prize that was held in South Australia.

She is the very first female Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia. In fact, she is the first female director of any state gallery in the nation. We are very proud that she will be taking up her role I believe in October this year. She will be continuing the excellent work that has been done at the Art Gallery of South Australia with many very successful directors in the past. Of course, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge and congratulate the former director, Nick Mitzevich, for his time in South Australia and wish him all the very best for his new role as Director of the National Gallery of Australia.