House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-10-16 Daily Xml

Contents

Premier's State/Local Government Forum

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (15:05): Supplementary: a question to the Minister for Local Government. Given his broad comments about local government, can he outline to the parliament why it has been over one year since the Premier's State/Local Government Forum has actually met, given that the 2014 election commitment was for that to occur three times per year?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:05): In fact, the Premier's local government forum met just the other day. The minister would have been there, but he was unable to attend, so we have had that meeting. It was a very fruitful discussion. The President of the Local Government Association, Mr O'Loughlin, attended and the former member of this place, the Mayor of Onkaparinga, attended and it was a very agreeable discussion. We canvassed a range of matters that were put on the agenda by the Local Government Association. This is the commitment that we gave to upgrade the relationship between local government and the South Australian government by elevating it to the status of a premier's relationship with the heads of local government. It was an excellent forum and we look forward to the next one.