Government Grants Administration

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:35): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier consider the incorrect awarding of $1 million to a company 'an administrative error'? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TEAGUE: An ICAC report entitled 'Evaluation of Grants Administration' found that, quote, 'an administrative error' resulted in a bungled awarding of $1 million to a company which then had to retrospectively apply for the funding that it had already received.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:36): Yes, as was reported in the parliament yesterday, and the Attorney-General gave a ministerial statement regarding a number of matters that pertained to the various reports that were tabled in the parliament yesterday, this was one of them.

We are grateful for the work that has been undertaken by the commission in this regard. I am very pleased to report that the $1 million grant that was awarded to Belgravia has resulted in some high-quality outcomes that have benefited industries throughout the state. The business exists within the member for Florey's electorate and it is a grant that has unlocked a lot of growth at Belgravia. We have seen their investment in capital actually deliver jobs that were being performed in China now being performed right here at home in the state of South Australia.

These types of partnerships between business and government are the sorts of partnerships that we are willing to invest in but we were grateful that, as a result of the work undertaken by the commission, there was an identification in terms of a process that had a gap within it in terms of the way that cabinet decisions are communicated to relevant government agencies. As a result of that work in November last year I was very pleased that the CEO of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, in conjunction with myself, revised a circular to ensure that cabinet submissions that are made, of which are often amended during the course of cabinet deliberations, are adequately and appropriately communicated to government agencies. That issue has now been rectified, and we are very grateful for the exercise to be able to deliver that outcome.