West Coast Cabinet

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:40): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Business Services and Consumers a question about the country cabinet.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.T. NGO: As we head into the holiday and Christmas season, I note that the Eyre Peninsula is an important tourist destination. South Australia is best known for our outdoor adventure tourism, especially fishing, camping and the like. I know many of us (including me) do not get the opportunity to explore many beautiful places in the outback of South Australia that many people around the world come to see. My question to the minister is: can you tell the chamber about the recent trip to Ceduna and Streaky Bay as part of the country cabinet?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:41): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in regional South Australia. It is always a great pleasure to travel around South Australia's regions, meeting and visiting people in their local communities. The most recent country cabinet was held in Ceduna and Streaky Bay, an incredibly beautiful part of the world, as I know you are well aware. I know you have visited this area many times yourself, sir. It was a very enjoyable visit, as well as being incredibly informative, and I have to say, the oysters were pretty good as well.

I was pleased to be able to join ministers Hunter and Bettison on a tour of the Ceduna service coordination. A high proportion of Aboriginal people access and rely on services within the Ceduna region, and it is great that real progress is being made to strengthen the partnerships between the community, government and Aboriginal organisations that come together to support a strong and vibrant Ceduna community.

To further this, the state government has recently established a new position of manager of Ceduna service reform, which will be a key role across government agencies to help improve service coordination and to develop a Ceduna service plan. Furthermore, in late 2013, a meeting of Ceduna service providers decided that a vulnerable persons framework, based on the family safety framework, could assist in the coordination of services.

The framework aims to ensure clients are provided with a consistent point of access to all services and that their care is coordinated and managed. Whilst it has only been operational for a fairly short period of time, it was great to hear positive feedback from those involved in service provision about how beneficial this framework has already been.

I was able to visit the Ceduna Domestic Violence and Aboriginal Family Violence Centre, and it was great to be able to visit with people who are passionate about working towards the eradication of violence against women and children and working with women to ensure their safety. The service is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As well as providing a safe location for women, the service also provides education sessions on domestic violence for service providers, agencies, schools and individuals.

During my time in Streaky Bay, I was able to visit Minotaur Exploration. This innovative mineral exploration company has been awarded $36,000 as part of the $1.2 million innovation voucher program, part of the Premier's Research and Industry Fund, which facilitates new connections between businesses and research providers to help businesses find solutions to industry problems.

Minotaur is undertaking some incredibly fascinating work. They are exploring uses for clay minerals that could benefit local drilling programs and potentially create a new supply chain, and up to 60 new jobs in South Australia are likely to be located on the Eyre Peninsula. Currently, Minotaur is working with researchers from the University of Adelaide and the United States to analyse the properties of two clay minerals: kaolin and halloysite. If testing proves successful, these minerals will be used to manufacture a ceramic proppant which can be used in South Australian gas drilling ventures. It is amazing: these clay deposits are quite close to the top of the soil. They are very white and are apparently a very high quality. Not only is this an exciting investigation because it has the potential to—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Liz Penfold spoke about this 10 years ago.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Well, we are doing something about it, unlike the previous government. The opposition do nothing about it, Mr President. They have done nothing.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Sit down. The Hon. Mr Ridgway, you withdraw that.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I will withdraw that. I apologise.

The PRESIDENT: That is accepted.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: But because currently the lightweight ceramic proppant being sourced from China for many of the Cooper Basin programs is of poor quality and not optimal, we are actually importing the stuff at the moment. It is not optimal for use in the deep conditions found in the Cooper Basin. Minotaur expects that results from initial samples sent to the United States about the viability of their product are due in March, and we are certainly looking forward to hearing about them and being able to inform the chamber about this innovative product, which is vital in helping us support the state's strategic priorities and economic future. Although it was a very busy couple of days and hard work—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Maher, can you please show some respect for your leader?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —it was made considerably easier by the very warm and welcoming reception that we received from local residents and communities wherever we went.