Cross Border Commissioner

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (14:48): Supplementary: why hasn't the Cross Border Commissioner commenced her role given the urgency with which the government pursued the matter?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:49): I appreciate the recognition that the Hon. Mr Simms is giving as to the urgency with which we pursued this matter, which after all had been on the radar and been advocated by the member for Mount Gambier for a number of years, but of course wasn't taken up by the former Marshall Liberal government at all. I was very pleased that we were able to proceed with it. We introduced the legislation to establish the Cross Border Commissioner in I think it was our first week of government, although I stand to be corrected in case it was a couple of weeks afterwards.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Members may recall that those opposite attempted to move a number of amendments that would have made it far more difficult to be a workable piece of legislation, but fortunately—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: —those were able to be defeated in the other place. The bill then came back to this place and we were able to pass it. We then commenced the recruitment process, which included engaging the services of a recruitment firm, and they went through a very robust recruitment process which meant that we were then able to announce, in December, the appointment of Ms Liz McKinnon. Ms McKinnon had an existing role. It's not unusual when we are looking at executives that they may need to finish off work in their existing role and therefore need a little more time to be able to transition to their new role. That was the situation in this case.