House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-09-18 Daily Xml

Contents

Riverbank Authority

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (14:18): My question is to the Deputy Premier. Can the Deputy Premier update the house about the membership of the Riverbank Authority?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (14:18): I am pleased to advise of the appointment of the board of the Riverbank Authority by the Governor today. As members are no doubt aware, the Chair of the Riverbank Authority is former Tourism Australia chief executive Andrew McEvoy. Mr McEvoy was appointed by the government earlier this year. Today, I can announce the appointment of the remaining members of the—

Mr PISONI: Point of order, sir: this information is publicly available. It was actually published on the InDaily website just a couple of hours ago.

The SPEAKER: I am more interested in whether it was published by the government.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: They saw the member for Schubert diving for his—

Mr Knoll: It was indeed released by the government two hours ago.

The SPEAKER: Perhaps the Deputy Premier could relate this to the member for Kavel, and thus introduce new material.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I will indeed. I make this concession to the intrepid member for Schubert, who is able to do amazing things with that newfangled machine he has got. It is true, Mr Speaker, that the names I am about to relate to the parliament have already been published in the Government Gazette, but I would have thought that my saying a little bit more about them and sprinkling it with amusing anecdotes about the member for Schubert would be sufficiently original to enable me to finish my remarks.

The SPEAKER: I am all ears.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Thank you. The four new members are, firstly, Mr Malcolm Snow, an award-winning urban planner and landscape architect. Mr Snow is the chief executive of Canberra’s National Capital Authority and was the former chief executive officer of Brisbane’s South Bank precinct. Member for Schubert, google him: he’s very impressive.

Mr Knoll: So, next is John Hanlon.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Mr John Hanlon—he reads my mind. Mr Speaker, he is a Jedi.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I’ll go to you on the next one, okay. John Hanlon is the chief executive of Renewal SA. Mr Hanlon has played—

Mr PISONI: I move that the deputy’s answer be inserted into Hansard without his reading it.

The SPEAKER: Alas, the member for Unley is out of order.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Thank you very much—an integral role in the vibrant city agenda and will continue to do so through his work as head of Renewal. Next is Professor Tanya Munro, an award-winning Australian physicist, known for her work in photonics. From November 2014, Professor Munro will be Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation at the University of South Australia. The fourth is Karyn Kent, chief executive of Education Adelaide with more than 18 years’ experience in the tourism industry, including a significant period as the regional general manager for Tourism Australia for the South-East Asia and Gulf region.

These high-calibre board members have a great range of skills and experience in a diverse range of areas, including urban design, tourism and research. The board will work together with the state government to ensure that our significant investment in the Riverbank Precinct, through the expansion of the Adelaide Convention Centre, the Riverbank footbridge and the Adelaide Oval, is capitalised to its full potential. The authority will provide advice to government on attracting investment to the precinct and will act as a curator to ensure the precinct is used to its full potential. I look forward to working closely with the Riverbank Authority to keep building Adelaide as the heart of our vibrant state.