Legislative Council Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Farm Finance Package FARM FINANCE PACKAGE The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE Legislative Council FARM FINANCE PACKAGE The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (14:28): I have a supplementary question. As soon as the minister has organised the criteria and relevant arrangements regarding this scheme, which is desperately needed in rural South Australia, will the minister table that in the house, and can the minister assure the house that there will not be money taken out of the commonwealth that will work against farmers just to cost recover back to your department? 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 FARM FINANCE PACKAGE 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) (14:29): The honourable member fails to understand that this is a federal government initiative. It is the federal government that sets the criteria for eligibility for the fund, not the state government. Those criteria are already reasonably well developed and are available on the website. The honourable member needs to get off his tail, hit Google and get online and check out the criteria. These criteria are set by the federal government. Whichever way the honourable member looks at it, the administrative costs are genuine costs of the scheme. Somebody has to pay for it. We either pay for it out of federal moneys which are our taxes that are paid to the federal government—public money, being paid to go towards our farmers—or we pass it on to South Australian taxpayers alone—just us rather than the national pool—and public money again has to pay for those administrative costs. One way or another, those administrative costs have to be borne. I am sure the honourable member is not suggesting that we do a cost recovery, so that those farmers who choose to access this scheme pay for their own administrative costs. That is absurd. If the honourable member is not suggesting that that happen, then it has to be paid for out of public money one way or the other, and I am saying that the federal government should be covering these costs, not South Australian taxpayers. The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Supplementary question, the Hon. Mr Ridgway.