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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-09-23 Daily Xml
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Portolesi, Ms G.

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:06): My question is to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. Can the minister advise the house what role she had in the creation of the new advisory position within her department and the appointment of Grace Portolesi to that position?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:06): The position that is now occupied by Ms Grace Portolesi is precisely the same position that was created for the former chair of the Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission, now the present Governor of South Australia. The salary and arrangements that have been put in place for that position, the salary and arrangements that have been put in place for the Chair of the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission, are exactly the same, but there is a nuance and a change to the role.

I have discussed with Ms Portolesi the way in which she should perform that role, and I've also discussed it with the minister, and that is that while there is an important role in maintaining and supporting communities, there is also a crucial role in reaching out to the world from South Australia and using the advantages we have with our wonderful multicultural communities to make the connections that allow us to invest and trade with the world.

That's the opportunity we've laid out for ourselves in our economic vision for South Australia, to use those connections, to take our wonderful multiculturalism, use the connections that those people have with their countries of origin to allow us to form the links necessary—

Ms Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Heysen to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —to trade. We know that a very high proportion of our exporters are people who were born overseas. We know a very high proportion of our entrepreneurs were people born overseas. They represent a massive resource for South Australia at a time when we need to transform and modernise the South Australian economy.

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