Northern Economic Plan

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:20): My question is directed to the Leader of the Government. Given that yesterday the minister indicated that the 15,000 jobs target for the Northern Economic Plan was a number that had been put forward by him as minister and the local mayors, can the minister outline to the house, once the decision was taken, to whom and to what section of what department he conveyed that decision that he and the local mayors took, and what then was the process for incorporation in the various documents that have been released now, such as 'Look North', by the government?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:21): I thank the honourable member for his question. I will stand up for the local mayors he so viciously keeps attacking in this chamber, the Mayor of Port Adelaide Enfield, Gary Johanson; the mayor of Salisbury, Gillian Aldridge; and the Mayor of Playford, Glenn Docherty. I will stand up for those mayors and for the great work they have done and they role they have played, and I do not care how viciously they are attacked by the Hon. Rob Lucas.

The Northern Economic Plan was a document worked on by the government and by those three councils. The document as a whole was a joint product of all those groups, and I think it is a document that has, in general, been very well received and that sets a course and charts a path for economic development in the north.