MURRAY MALLEE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:12): My question is to the Minister for State/Local Government Relations. Can the minister provide information on the recent Murray Mallee Local Government Association's first annual priority setting day?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for his very important question. Last Friday I had the pleasure of speaking at the Murray Mallee Local Government Association's first annual priority setting day. The Office for State/Local Government Relations is currently assisting regional LGAs in establishing annual planning or priority setting days. The $30,000 program funded by the state government provides a practical training ground for regional councils.

The Murray Mallee LGA planning day was the first of these days to be held and it was organised around the theme 'Premium food and wine from our clean environment'. This was a theme that they chose themselves and, therefore, it was important to have a number of state government agencies in attendance. I am pleased to advise that the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (known as PIRSA) was represented by Mr Ian Nightingale, chief executive, along with other senior representatives from the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, and the Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology.

Each of these representatives gave a short presentation outlining their agency's priority for the next 12 months in the Murray and Mallee region. General discussion throughout the day then assisted in forming a relatively short list of key priorities for the region and participants assigned responsibility for pursuing these priorities. The intention of holding annual planning days will ensure that these priorities are reported on and further discussed over the next 12 months. I am pleased to see that the state/local government sector has put in place what is really a very simple idea: getting state government agencies and councils together once a year to talk about what their plans and priorities are, where these intersect and where they may diverge.

I want to make sure that councils and the state government in each region are having an ongoing conversation so that everybody knows what the other party is doing and, importantly, what our shared priorities are. I would like to congratulate the Murray Mallee LGA on a successful first annual planning and priority setting day, and I look forward to updating the chamber on the progress of these priorities in the coming months.