BUSINESS ENTERPRISE CENTRES

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:54): I have a supplementary question. Will the minister concede that past practice has meant that the payment has been made in the last week of each financial year, and the failure to continue that practice has meant that business enterprise centres have been embarrassed in meeting commitments with other businesses in their local communities?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (14:55): I do not know what has happened in the past. I indicated earlier that there was some pre-payment in the first year. However, as I understand it, there is now a three-year payment which will give certainty to the organisations. As I pointed out in answer to a question the other day, there are three sources of funds, and the $150,000 from the state government is only one of the contributions. There are contributions from the federal government and also from local government. It will be interesting to see whether that money has been received and whether they are as efficient as this state government in terms of delivering it.

Just because a pre-payment was made in one year, at the time the agreements were reached, by the former minister for small business, once those agreements were signed, the terms of that agreement were met. There are many other organisations that I am sure would like their government payments within the first fortnight of the start of the financial year.