Regional Mining

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:32): Supplementary, just a simple one: is the minister happy with the government's consultation that he has undertaken so far? Just a simple yes or no.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:32): I am happy, but I am going to add a bit more than just yes or no. Clearly, we have Grain Producers SA, very capably led by Ms Caroline Rhodes, and SACOME led by Ms Rebecca Knol, which are the two peak industry bodies. They are well engaged; they represent all the grain growers on Yorke Peninsula and all the other people in the mining sector. In fact, primary producers is not just grain growers, it is every primary producer in South Australia. They are well engaged in that process. The minister tells me that he is in regular contact with both of them.

So, yes, we are consulting broadly with those sectors and we will continue to do so. It is a consultation process that I think is far more robust than any that we saw completed by the former government. The former government did quite a lot of workshops and forums, which informed the department, and that's one of the reasons why I said, when we talked about the debate last year with the Hon. Mark Parnell, the Hon. John Darley and others, a lot of good work has been done. I remember Daniel Woodyatt from the department and minister Koutsantonis's adviser—what's his name, the big guy—Nick—

An honourable member: Alexandrides.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: No, not Alexandrides. They came to see me and I said, 'Whatever the election result, we're not going to throw away the consultation work that's already been done. That would be crazy. But we will look at that and, if we are in government the new minister, I am sure, Mr van Holst Pellekaan, will continue on and that will inform how he would like to progress a bill if he is the minister. I am sure that if we aren't successful and minister Koutsantonis is still the minister then they will keep using that consultation and progress the bill as the government wanted to do prior to the election.' I am very comfortable with it.

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: So are you happy?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I am very happy with the consultation that was done.

The Hon. E.S. Bourke: You are. Thank you; there it is.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I said that to start with; yes, I am happy.