RURAL AGENT PROGRAM

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:57): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Government Enterprises a question about government services in rural areas.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: People in rural areas have the same need for South Australian government services as those of us who live in the metropolitan area. People from these areas have had to travel, sometimes unreasonable distances, to access government services. My question to the minister is: can she advise the council what the government is doing to improve access to government services for smaller rural communities in South Australia?

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) (15:58): I thank the honourable member for her important question. Service SA implements various strategies to improve access to government transactions and information services. As part of this ongoing strategy, Service SA provides smaller rural communities with access to a range of state government information services through its rural service agent program.

As I have previously mentioned in this place, Service SA's Rural Agent Program is already successful in many locations throughout the state. Service SA has expanded a range of services, including a number of commonly used registration and licensing services, which were not previously available in these communities for delivery by service agents.

On behalf of Service SA, Anglican Community Care Inc. is the Millicent rural agent, and it previously provided a limited number of transactions and information on behalf of various government agencies. It is with great pleasure that I announced on Thursday 13 October the opening of the Millicent service agent centre with the expansion of services. The Millicent community will benefit from the improved accessibility to registration and licensing transactions. This site has become the location of the third service agent in South Australia and demonstrates the state government's commitment to expand the range of government services and information to rural communities.

Due to the popularity of Service SA transactions in the local community, Country North Community Services (the Clare rural agent) was the first to be expanded, and in May 2011 the Clare service agent was launched. In July 2011, Yorketown service agent became the second service agent in South Australia. Both Clare and Yorketown service agents continue to provide a range of government services to their local community. Service SA plans to continue to expand the rural service model to transform some other existing rural agents into service agents to further service additional rural communities with more cost-effective measures that will help provide a greater number of popular registration and licensing services closer to people's homes.

The opening of the Millicent service agent has provided access to many more additional registration and licensing services that have not been previously available. These include renewal or replacement of a driver's licence and learner's permit, ability to register a motor boat, renewal or transfer of vehicle registration, and ordering special or replacement vehicle plates. I am advised that Service SA trained Anglican Community Care Inc. staff in an additional range of transactions before the Millicent service agent was officially opened to the public on the 13^th.

I once again take this opportunity to recognise Service SA for their hard work and their commitment to providing an extremely high benchmark in the service provided to South Australian communities. They are indeed a very hardworking, very committed and very dedicated agency. I believe they have one of the most highly-honed, focused and dedicated commitment to customer service, which can be held up as a model in this state.