STATE/LOCAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

The Hon. S.G. WADE (15:06): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations a question relating to the minister's compliance with the State/Local Government Relations Agreement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Minister Gago has previously held the position of Minister for State/Local Government Relations twice: firstly, from 24 July 2008 to 8 February 2011; and then again from 21 April 2011 to 21 October 2011. Clause 10(d) of the State/Local Government Relations Agreement states:

State and Local Government jointly commit to:

Hold at least annually a Minister's State/Local government Forum to tackle significant issues that arise at the interface between State and Local Government. These matters would be agreed in advance and may include matters identified in an Annual Schedule of Priorities or other agreed topics.

I stress the agreement states that these fora shall be held annually. The minister's last two stints as Minister for State/Local Government Relations were for a total of three years in office, yet only one State/Local Government Forum was held in that period, on 3 February 2010.

The council needs no reminding that the minister repeatedly avoided meeting with the board of the South Australian Tourism Commission as the board is an independent statutory body, and in her words all of their decisions are 'operational matters'. My questions to the minister are:

1. Considering that councils are independent statutory authorities, will the minister take the same approach to local government?

2. Why did the minister not hold a state/local government forum at least once a year while she was the Minister for State/Local Government Relations in previous ministries?

3. Will the minister commit to hold at least one state/local government forum for each year she is the respective minister in this ministry?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:08): I thank the honourable member for his question even though parts of it are inaccurate and the information contained within it are inaccurate. I have not previously had two stints as minister for local government: I have only had one previous stint and I am now currently the minister. I believe—and I am certainly happy to have this checked—that in the time that I was previous minister, I did in fact conduct a forum in a 12-month period. I can double check that just to verify, but I am pretty certain that I did comply with that whilst I was minister.

I have previously spoken about it quite a bit in this place—when I first became Minister for State/Local Government Relations—that I was met with significant complaints from a wide range of members from local government—various members of the LGA, and various councils expressing their dissatisfaction with the forums. Their view was that it had initially been set up and had filled a gap that had not existed before. A large number of issues were identified that were very successfully dealt with by that forum; it was a very active agenda for some time. I think that was when minister Rankine was the minister.

Then, the view coming from local government was that they virtually ran out of topics. They did a lot of the hard work, and there was a high level of dissatisfaction with the forum, that it was really a bit a bit of a waste of people's time, that it had served a purpose and people weren't getting a great deal out of it, even though they had input into setting the agenda.

The view that was expressed to me when I first became minister was that the value of that forum had significantly declined. What I did was set in place a process where I spoke to different members of local government far and wide, spoke to the LGA, and looked at how we could reinvigorate, and make better use of that time. The result of that was some changes to the way the forum was conducted, and we talked about it being an issue-based forum for both information exchange and learning. We looked at changing things slightly, and thus I conducted a forum at that time; and in line with the debates and discussions and extensive input from local government, that forum took place.

Since then, I had a change of roles. The Hon. Russell Wortley was minister for some time, and I know he conducted a forum. As Minister for Regional Development, I was invited to attend that forum, and I think that was just towards the end of last year. I am quite happy to again consult—as I always do—with the Local Government Association and local councils about their views about the forum to see whether they believe any further changes need to occur and whether they are satisfied with the way that the forum is currently being conducted.

I will listen to local councils and the LGA, and heed any advice and information that they have to share in relation to that, because what we do not want to do is waste people's time. We are all very busy people and we all sit in a lot of meetings; it is most important that we make absolutely efficient and effective use of our time, so I will be engaging with the LGA and local councils again to make sure that whatever takes place is in line with their contemporary needs.