OMBUDSMAN

The Hon. R.D. LAWSON (14:32): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Leader of the Government a question about the Ombudsman.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.D. LAWSON: The former South Australian ombudsman, Eugene Biganovsky, resigned on 22 June this year. The Ombudsman Act provides:

On a vacancy occurring in the office of the ombudsman, the matter of inquiring into and reporting on a suitable person for appointment to the vacant office is referred by force of this subsection to the Statutory Officers Committee...

a committee of which the minister is chair and I am honoured to be a member, especially as it is an unpaid committee. The Parliamentary Committees Act provides that the functions of the Statutory Officers Committee are to inquire into, consider and report on a suitable person for appointment to offices such as that of the ombudsman. Without in any way mentioning the deliberations of the committee, I assure you, Mr President, I indicate that the committee last met on 23 July this year.

Bearing in mind that there are only eight scheduled sitting days before the Christmas break and that the Statutory Officers Committee has not deliberated on this matter and would have to undertake to do so, prepare a report and present it to both houses for its consideration, and bearing in mind the importance of the office of Ombudsman and the fact that it has been vacant for a number of months, I ask the minister: does the government intend to recommend a prompt appointment of a new ombudsman, and will the minister convene a meeting of the Statutory Officers Committee to further consider the question of a replacement for Mr Biganovsky; if so, when?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (14:34): The Hon. Robert Lawson is a member of the committee and well knows the procedure established by the committee for appointing an ombudsman: it is the same procedure as was used for appointing the State Electoral Commissioner last year. Without going too far into the proceedings of the committee, obviously, applications were called for the position and a preliminary assessment of those applications will be undertaken by a panel. I have just this moment checked with the secretary of the committee who informs me that later this week that panel will be interviewing the applicants.

Then, as was done with the State Electoral Commissioner, a short list will be presented to the Statutory Officers Committee; and as soon as I get that information I will be calling the committee together. The reason the committee has not been convened since its previous meeting is simply that it was waiting for the processes—which were established by the committee—to come into effect. Once I have the information that the short list has been selected by the panel appointed by the Statutory Officers Committee the committee will meet to complete the deliberations which, as I said, I hope will be fairly soon.