REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AUSTRALIA ADELAIDE BOARD

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:06): My questions are directed to the Minister for Regional Development:

1. Is it accurate that the Regional Development Australia Adelaide board has no organisational structure or administration and relies on the Department of Trade and Economic Development to provide those services? If so, what is the annual cost to DTED of providing those services?

2. Do metropolitan councils contribute financially to the RDA, as is the case with their country counterparts?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for Gambling) (15:07): I did not quite hear the beginning of the question. Was it the metropolitan RDA that the member refers to?

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: Regional Development Australia Adelaide.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Adelaide; thank you. My understanding was, in relation to the initial establishment of RDA Adelaide, that it was originally, if I recall correctly, established as a general overarching RDA. Initially, it was my understanding that it was not required to have, for instance, a roadmap for its area and, initially, it was not contemplated that it would contribute in the same way to the RDA process involving federal RDA funding. So, it was established in a very different way to the other RDAs around regional South Australia.

However, very close to the announcement of the opening of round 1 of the RDA funding, the federal government made some changes and determined that the metropolitan RDA could participate in the same way, could put proposals forward and should have a roadmap. So, that RDA has worked very hard now to accommodate those changes.

I congratulate them because, as I said, the rules and the information that we were receiving from the federal government did change, and did change considerably, at the last minute. As I said, I compliment the RDA and acknowledge how they were able to readily accommodate the federal government changes and, I understand, they were submitting proposals in that round 1. I think they used the 30-year plan as a bit of a framework to help them put together a road map for that area.

Indeed, the arrangements initially established for that RDA were very different to the other RDAs. I am not familiar with exactly what the administrative support details are. I am happy to take that on notice and bring back a response. As I said, the rules change very quickly. They have been able to accommodate that and we now need to reposition ourselves for future funding rounds to make sure that they are—

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: My understanding is that it is a tripartite arrangement for all RDAs, but I will clarify that in relation to the Adelaide RDA.