Question Time

Commissioner for Drought Support in South Australia

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): My questions are to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development regarding the recently announced drought commissioner.

1. Is the drought commissioner a statutory commissioner?

2. What is the scope of the commissioner's role?

3. Who does the commissioner report to, and is he reporting to a subset of cabinet?

4. Does the commissioner hold any formal powers and, if so, what is the legislative and administrative basis for those powers?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:24): I thank the honourable member for her question. I was very pleased to be able to announce, with the Premier, last week the appointment of Mr Alex Zimmerman as the drought commissioner for South Australia. It has certainly been the case that a number of industry groups have been in discussions with the government for some time now about the potential benefits of having a role such as this appointed to South Australia.

Obviously, we made our first drought package back in November last year and followed up with a second package in April and whilst we have seen some rain in some parts of the state it certainly has not been enough to be a drought breaker and we are continuing to work closely with all of the affected industries: the peak bodies, the farmers direct and so on.

It is not a legislated role, obviously, otherwise that would have come to this place. The role will be—or indeed is because the commissioner has commenced—very much involved in the all-of-government oversight of the drought support package, engaging with communities, with drought-affected farmers and continuing and expanding on the work that I have done as minister and the Premier has done in his role, as well as PIRSA.

The drought support package, of course, is across government, not just within PIRSA, but the situation in terms of being able to ensure that that is hitting the ground in the way that we would envisage and that we are continuing to provide the sorts of supports that are helpful for the drought-affected farmers and indeed other regional communities will be a key part of the role of the drought support commissioner, or drought commissioner.

In terms of the other aspects, just to go into a little bit more detail, as I mentioned it is not a statutory commissioner, but Commissioner Zimmerman, I hope everyone would agree, has a very broad range of relevant experience. He undertook a very significant role in the River Murray floods. He will be serving in an advisory capacity, providing his expertise and guidance to government as we continue to navigate the support necessary for drought. He will report directly to me as Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development and we will certainly look at whether reporting to cabinet as time goes forward would also be appropriate. Clearly, it is early days for him—this is his second day—and we look forward to updating the chamber further.