Thriving Regions Fund

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): Further supplementary: in regard to the Enabling Infrastructure stream, who makes the decision on whether the applicant for the expression of interest is granted approval to go to the round 2 stage?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:23): Ultimately, as minister, the final decision is mine, but that is based on all the information available to me, which includes feedback from the eight Regional Development Australia associations. Obviously, I highly value the advice that they provide.

I thought it was particularly important that—given we want to make sure we are getting the best bang for our buck in terms of the regional development fund or the Thriving Regions Fund—we do engage with people on the ground. I think the regional development associations on the whole have a strong brand, a strong recognition as being in good contact with their local communities and, importantly, are able to look at the priorities for the whole region rather than necessarily looking at projects in isolation.

I think it's the first time that this fund or its equivalent predecessors have used this type of two-stage process with the RDAs having such an important input into it, and I look forward to evaluating in the future how this new process has gone.