Facilities Services

The Hon. G.G. BROCK (Frome) (14:46): Supplementary: has this been explained to the 70 prequalified DPTI contractors out in the regions currently at the moment, specifically in Yorke and the Mid North, who are very confused about how this is going to go? If the message hasn't got out there, I would strongly request that this be clarified with those contractors out there—

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome, we have the question.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:46): To outline the process, there has been consultation. Essentially, this is a decision that the government has taken in recent weeks. The procurement arrangements for the new contract haven't started. The existing arrangements are still in place and are going to be in place until sometime next year.

What's happened is that we have undertaken consultation processes with the internal government employees that are affected. There has certainly been consultation with those employees because they are directly affected, and those arrangements and consultation processes will happen, as they should, according to the enterprise bargaining and normal industrial relations agreements.

What happens next in terms of discussions with contractors who undertake work currently, that will certainly start as of now but, again, cabinet only took this decision a few weeks ago. The procurement has not as yet started, so there is still quite a way to run before we award that contract and then for those arrangements to change.

Again, what I want to assure contractors is that there is no reduction in budgets from agencies being able to undertake work. Second of all, under the new arrangements, we have as part of this moved to improve contestability. What we know, and the feedback we've got, is that especially for low-risk work, local sites know their sites well. They know which contractors know their sites and have previously done work, and who can come and fix things up and do it cheaper. It is a truncated arrangement that is not as bureaucratic.

We're actually improving those opportunities. Handyman services, soft facilities management, small planned construction works under $1 million—for all these things we're actually providing greater opportunity now. What we can't guarantee is that every single contractor is going to keep the work that they have had before.

We're spending taxpayers' money here and we need to make sure that we are doing that fairly, honesty, transparently and with a great degree of probity to make sure that we are getting value for money for South Australian taxpayers. But that pool of money is there and it's not going to be undertaken by anybody else except for businesses in South Australia.

I certainly can understand, and I have received correspondence with my office about individual contractors wanting to know if they can hold onto individual contracts. Again, that's very difficult, but even under the current system, you would not expect individual contractors to get a job for life. We undertake procurements to make sure that we spend taxpayers' dollars wisely and that we get the best deal, the best value for money and the best quality for the cheapest price, as well as making sure those industry participation policy arrangements are also managed through the procurement process. All of those things will continue.