SYP Community Hub

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (14:53): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the SYP Community Hub be empowered to conduct more Service SA functions? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr ELLIS: A constituent of mine, Roger Murdoch, reports having to drive all the way to Kadina from his farm, which is some 130 ks, to change farm harvest machinery from seasonal to farm-to-farm registration. I met on his behalf with department reps in March, but Mr Murdoch has reported having to drive to Kadina again this harvest.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:53): I am always here to help the Murdochs, sir—whatever I can do to help the Murdochs, I am in.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes. It is a big problem for us in regional South Australia with Service SA and those facilities, and I would like to see us have a lot more of a presence but, again, there's a cost issue and this is the paradox that government faces. For safety and security and integrity of the licensing we do, we require people to attend Service SA centres. A lot of those people who have to do that regulatory licensing are in regional and remote areas and they can't get to a Service SA centre, and it is very, very difficult.

The cost of us having these centres rolled out with the logistics and the equipment that are needed to maintain the integrity of a lot of that licensing, which if it gets into the wrong hands, as we have seen previously, with the licence number issue by some banks using key identifiers on their databases, which has then been leaked, it is very, very dangerous. I am up for suggestions of how we can get more infrastructure into regional areas to try and, one, eliminate a great deal of cost for us.

One of our biggest expenses in Service SA, excluding wages, is postage, which is a big expense for the government and, of course, that is a cost that can be changed on us at a moment's notice by Australia Post, and it is probably the only way we can get a lot of information to people. I am up for a better look at this. One of the things we have been canvassing internally is whether or not we cooperate with councils, whether we allow more work to be done online. But, again, the online aspect is difficult because there are some things you need to do in person.

So, I don't have a good answer for the member for Narungga. I wish I did, but this is a complex problem. I would say to the member for Narungga that if there was an easy solution we would have done it by now because we want our citizens to have access to this. This place puts a lot of regulations on Service SA to deliver to people and it gets very, very expensive and difficult. We have tried to open it up and make things available on weekends, but there are regional centres that are not being covered, with people driving long distances to get to essential services, and it's very frustrating for me, as it is for you, as it is for your constituent.

So we are looking at it. Do I have a solution today? No, I don't. There are scarce resources that we try to allocate towards health and education and those key government services, and where we can do it more effectively and efficiently, we will. If we can open up more services we will. If it is cost-effective to get more services out to regional areas, we will do it. But there's not an endless pit of money where we can just open up centres throughout South Australia to service as many communities as we possibly can.

We try and deal with it and try to manage it and we triage it as best we can. So, I don't have an answer to the satisfaction of the member, but I do undertake, if he likes, to speak to Mr Murdoch personally about this issue because I know you are a fierce advocate for your local community and I want to help you as much as I possibly can. If you can get me those details after question time, I will do what I can, but I can't make promises I can't keep.