Landscape Boards

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (14:23): My question is to the Minister for Climate, Environment and Water. Did the minister take three months to sign a time-sensitive briefing relating to landscape board elections and, if so, why?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir. Standing order 97 offers no ability to offer any argument or debate within the question. I understand by characterising this type of correspondence or briefing in a particular way shows that it is somehow in breach of those standing orders.

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Hartley, I don't need your advice right now. Member for Bragg, can you reword your question and take out the commentary?

Mr BATTY: I will rephrase my question to the Minister for Climate, Environment and Water. Did the minister take three months to sign a briefing relating to landscape board elections and, if so, why? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr BATTY: Documents released under FOI reveal that the minister received a briefing on 29 April last year that, if signed within 48 hours, would have enabled landscape board elections to go ahead later that year as required by legislation. Instead, she waited for three months and signed the briefing on 25 July when it was too late to arrange the elections.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water) (14:24): That's very much a mischaracterisation of what that briefing was looking at and what the decision process was for not proceeding with those elections. Indeed, I know that the Leader of the Opposition has told people privately that he agrees with the decision not to proceed with the elections but has chosen not to be consistent with that in the public.

The problem is that we have letters from the Electoral Commission very concerned at the timing of those elections that were being proposed. We have concerns and correspondence from the Local Government Association, from the primary producers—

Mr Telfer interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Flinders is warned for the second time. The minister has the call and you will listen in silence.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: We had correspondence and meetings with primary producers, with the Local Government Association and with the Conservation Council, all desperately concerned about not proceeding with those elections. We had all the presiding members of all the landscape boards saying they did not think it was appropriate to proceed with those elections.

The idea that the timing of a briefing meant in 48 hours I had signed that they would have happened, completely misses the point about the very deep concern about proceeding with those elections that was being expressed to me across the board from all the people who were concerned about landscapes and, incidentally, as I understand it, agreed with by the Leader of the Opposition.

The decision that I made was not time bound. The decision I made was on the basis of input from the community, not least of which was the significant expense that was to be associated with those elections, which would have come out of the environment budget, which everyone felt was better spent on landscapes.