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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-11-19 Daily Xml
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Regional Development

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Planning. Minister, can you inform the house of recent government initiatives to activate regional main streets?

Members interjecting:

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) (14:55): I want to give the member for Schubert a few minutes just to adjust his equipment. Mr Speaker, if it's alright with you, I might start to answer my question and then I can throw to the member for Schubert to see if he can answer the next sentence because I suspect he hasn't got quite what I've got here. I think this is unique.

The SPEAKER: Well, let's see. Let's test it.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I think this is unique material. The South Australian division of the Property Council—of course, now led by a very dear friend of those on the other side of the house, Mr Gannon—with whom I met recently, by the way—we sat down and had a very nice chat—

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Can you just keep searching for what I'm saying? See if you can find this on there.

The SPEAKER: The Deputy Premier is called to order.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I beg your pardon. We had a very nice chat, Mr Gannon and I, and I gained the distinct impression that the Property Council, with his assistance, is going to depart from their behaviour before the election of being basically an extension of the opposition and they are going to be completely objective and straight down the line.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The views of the people of South Australia. The Property Council endorse capping of council rates and putting local government back in charge of five-storey buildings in the suburbs—I don't think so. Anyway, they won't be doing that anymore. They have worked out—

The SPEAKER: Could you come within the range of the member for Schubert?

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I'm sorry, I will get back to you in a moment. At a community cabinet meeting held in the Riverland in June, the government committed to delivering a $200,000—

Mr Knoll: $200,000 pilot program in Renmark called Made in SA.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Give me the next paragraph. Come on, give me the next one. You just had a lucky paragraph. Anyway, there have been over 75 local community members—are you up to that bit yet?

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: It's new, okay—and public workshops on 23 October, and 70 people attended a second workshop on 6 November. These were held in the vacant Target building in the main street of Renmark. The member for Chaffey was actually involved in this and came out a couple of times during the event. It was very good. Participants in the workshop were asked what brought them there and answers ranged from 'economic growth' to 'energise and revitalise' and 'to identify what to do well'. Another one, and this is a quote, 'to strut our stuff with pride'. That is what they want to do.

Mr Pengilly: Don't keep looking at him. Read your answer.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I'm paying attention to him. He gets funny if you don't pay attention. If successful, the pilot program will be rolled out to other South Australian regions during the course of the coming years. It presents us with a chance to start again, understanding the Riverland's economic ecosystem, particularly around opportunities and challenges facing local businesses in regional South Australia.

The SPEAKER: Alas, the minister's time has expired, but he did a manful job of zigzagging to avoid the member for Schubert's fire. Deputy leader.

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