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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-07-14 Daily Xml
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AUDITOR-GENERAL'S REPORT

407 Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (2 December 2008). With respect to the Report of the Auditor-General 2007-08—part B, volume 2, page 513—Program Schedule—Expenses and Income for the year ended 30 June 2008—

(a) why were Information Economy grants and subsidies reduced by $336,000 from the previous year and which programs received reduced funding or were discontinued; and

(b) why has the State Government failed to secure any Commonwealth grant funding for Science and Innovation?

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN (Napier—Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Science and Information Economy):

(a) Information Economy grants and subsidies were reduced by $336,000 from 2006-07 to 2007-08 for two reasons:

1. A reduction in the number of applications to the State's Broadband Development Fund for Regional Broadband Infrastructure projects. This lack of activity was due to the uncertainty created by Federal Government Regional Broadband policy at the time. This resulted in a $95,000 net reduction in program expenditure in 2007-08.

2. A one-off grant ($245,000) to the University of Adelaide in June 2007 to establish e-Research SA, an entity to ensure that South Australia has an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure capability able to service the needs of local and national researchers. This therefore inflated the 06-07 figure in comparison to the 07-08 figure.

(b) The Science and Innovation Directorate within DFEEST works to facilitate Commonwealth investment in South Australia's R&D and innovation capabilities. In most instances, Commonwealth grants and funding are provided directly to the organisation that undertakes the R&D such as a university or research institute.

In 2007 the Science and Innovation Directorate of DFEEST worked with the Commonwealth appointed facilitator for the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy program to identify research infrastructure investment priorities. DFEEST made a $206,000 payment to the facilitator and received full reimbursement from the Commonwealth. No similar eligible reimbursement opportunities existed in 2007-08.

There are, however, major opportunities for South Australia to leverage significant funding from the Commonwealth through various initiatives. Achievements in leveraging funds from the Commonwealth since 2003-04 include:



LEVERAGED FUNDS
Committed Projects(with C/W leverage) State Government Investment Cwth Investment Other Investment(Cash & In-kind) Total Leverage of Cwth and Other Investments
National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) $21.98 million $30.6 million $46.3 million $70 million
Higher Education Endowment Fund (HEEF) $10 million $68.9 million $27.8 million $96.7 million
SABRENet (The South Australian Broadband Research and Education Network) Please note figures are approximate $2.5 million (including $1.3m from Defence SA) $7.5 million $1.0 million $8.55 million
Outback Connect (no Commonwealth funding received in 2008-09) $0.54 million $0.54 million $0.02 million $0.56 million
Port Lincoln, Whyalla & Port Augusta Coordinated Communications Infrastructure Fund $1.25 million $2.0 million $1.37 million $4.622 million
Regional centres of Berri, Murray Bridge and Pt Pirie—fibre and backhaul $1.67 million $2.32 million $0.89 million $4.88 million
TAFE SA 'Clever Training' project $1.8 million $1.1 million $2.9 million
Clever Networks—Broadband Development $0.186 million $1.075 million $1.26 million
Cooperative Research Centres (2004 round) $4.2 million $60.0 million $60.0 million $120 million
Cooperative Research Centres (2006 round) $4.2 million $156 million $100 million $256 million
Australian Minerals Science Research Institute $2.5 million $8.4 million $22.1 million $30.5 million
Federation Fellowships $1.2 million $1.5 million $3.1 million $4.6 million
Total $52.026million $339.935million $262.58million $600.572million


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