Economic Recovery Fund

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:28): My question is again to the Treasurer. Have any applicants sought clarification from your office, or the department, regarding the status of their ERF applications and, if so, how many?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer, Minister for Defence and Space Industries) (14:28): Yes, absolutely, quite a number have to both my office and also the department. Some are from organisations that were involved in that process that I mentioned before, where there was an indication that further information would need to be provided in order for the government to fully consider their application. Sometimes that has not just been one request for information; that has been iterative.

We have all manner of organisations that have applied for funds: some larger, well-established, well-respected companies operating already in South Australia, and some companies that are more at the beginning of their journey as participants in our economy. That has meant that perhaps while some companies are more familiar with the sort of information that would need to be provided for this process and are more readily capable of providing that information, there have been a lot of organisations that haven't.

I do recognise that when companies have put in an application for funding, either a loan or a grant, that application has been deemed to be compliant and they haven't heard, they would like to know if they're successful and there have also been some inquiries from those companies.