Question Time

Government Boards and Committees

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:19): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation a question about removal of red tape and government boards.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: On 8 July this year, the Premier announced, among other things, that every government board and committee will be abolished unless, he went on to say, it can be demonstrated that it has an essential purpose that cannot be fulfilled in an alternative way. He then went on to say that a large number of boards and committees currently in existence contribute to duplication, unnecessary complexity and inefficiency within government.

He also said that whilst this process will reduce much of this duplication, it is also about giving the community more direct access to government. He then also went on to say that legislation will be introduced to remove the requirements for certain boards and committees within the current acts.

I also note that minister Hunter, the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, has some 105 boards and committees under his watchful eye. I was also reminded of minister Bignell's comments in estimates, when asked about the Tourism Commission Board, and he said that he wondered whether we need to spend a quarter of a million dollars on a board in the Tourism Commission and that perhaps we could get a group from the tourism industry to come along every couple of months and he could have talk to them about issues. He referred to them getting along to the Tourism Commission with the commission's chief executive every three or four months.

He also went on to say that Mr Warren McCann was undertaking the review. Further on in questioning the Minister for Tourism said that if the Minister for Infrastructure, for example, does not have a board to go through and work things out—where they are going to be built and where things are going to be spent—if a portfolio as big as infrastructure and transport does not need a board, he did not see the need for a Tourism Commission Board. My question to the minister is:

1. How will these boards demonstrate the need for their existence to remain? As part of the review process Mr McCann is doing, will the boards report to Mr McCann, with Mr McCann then providing a report to the minister or government? In the letter sent by the Premier, will it then come back to the minister?

2. Given minister Bignell's comments, has the government already made up its mind in relation to a number of these boards and, if so, will the boards about which this minister has made up his mind include the SA Water Board, the EPA Board, the South Australian Heritage Council, the Pastoral Board, the Dog Fence Board and the 97 other boards for which he is responsible?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:22): I thank the honourable member for his most important question about the Premier's determination on boards and committees. I can advise that I have written to presiding members of my boards and committees for which I am responsible, and also have written to my agency chiefs to bring the Premier's decision to their attention.

I have asked the presiding members and my agency chiefs to give me advice of their views on the boards and whether they have a strong reason to offer to me about why they should continue, or otherwise, or whether they can offer me advice about whether the functions of the boards and committees can be carried out in another fashion. With regard to question No. 2 asked by the Hon. Mr Ridgway about whether I have made up my mind already about certain boards and committees, the answer is no.