Legislative Council Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Regional Development Australia REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AUSTRALIA The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS Legislative Council REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AUSTRALIA The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:46): I have a supplementary question. To what extent do the funding changes impact on an individual RDA's ability to offer continuity to staff? The Hon. G.E. GAGO Legislative Council 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 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AUSTRALIA 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) (14:46): We set up a timing structure that enabled the RDAs to apply well in advance so that they knew well ahead of time what amount of funding they would have available to them so that they could then provide greater continuity in terms of their staffing. It is a significant issue for RDAs. RDAs access a whole range of different buckets of funding from all over the place. Different RDAs have different sorts of activities and are funded in different ways according to what they have applied for and for what purpose. Part of the problem with funding in that way, project-type funding, is that the funds are usually once-off for a particular time limit and there is no guarantee that further funds will be available after that time. It makes the issue of continuity challenging for them, and I understand that. However, we have certainly done our best to set up the timing and the announcement of the provisions that are going to be made available to each of the RDAs well in advance so at least they have some certainty.