Regional Capability Community Fund

458 Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (17 October 2018). Can the Minister explain why he cut the Regional Capability Community Fund in this year's state budget?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing): The former Labor government established the Regional Capability Community Fund in response to their decision to increase the Emergency Services Levy (ESL). The Marshall Liberal Government has returned that money back to South Australians. Our ESL commitment returns $90 million per annum or $360 million over four years.

Under Project Renew, the government has increased funding for frontline firefighting, by committing $2.5 million per annum over the next two years for much needed CFS station upgrades and maintenance, including incident control centres and backup power generators.