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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-11-15 Daily Xml
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Investment Attraction Agency

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (15:16): My question is to the Minister for Regional Development. How many staff have been transferred from other departments to the Investment Attraction agency?

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (15:16): The Investment Attraction agency was formed by gathering together a lot of people across government who had the term 'investment attraction' after their job description. It was a considered decision made by government on the recommendation of the Economic Development Board following a review that concluded that government could better focus its investment attraction efforts by bringing all of those people into one agency; now that has been done.

Quite a bit of information has been put out on this during budget estimates; in fact, I think that very question has been answered, so it is more than likely that you already have the answer. I will come back to the house with an exact indication of where those people came from, which agencies they came from and how they were assembled into the Investment Attraction agency. Since you have asked me the question—and I welcome more on the Investment Attraction agency—I can tell you that it has been a stunning success, and I thank you for the Dorothy Dixer. We have created thousands of jobs—

Mr Duluk: How many?

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: Well, again, it's all on the public record, but I will, in the interest of completeness, come back to you with a very specific—

Mr KNOLL: Point of order, Mr Speaker: by his own admission, I think he is delivering publicly available information.

The SPEAKER: The minister appears to have confessed that the material he was supplying the house was readily available from public sources.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: I am delighted to finally get some questions from the—

The SPEAKER: Perhaps his confession has been coerced.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: I missed the point of order, actually, Mr Speaker. I tend not to take much regard to the points of order raised by the member for Schubert. On 9 June 2015, cabinet approved the establishment of the stand-alone agency. The Investment Attraction agency (IASA) consulted widely in the drafting of guidelines for its fund. The state budget included $5 million in 2015-16 and $10 million in 2016-17 for that fund, and in 2016—

Mr Duluk interjecting:

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: There's a dog barking in the background, Mr Speaker; I'm not quite sure who it is.

The SPEAKER: The minister is called to order for characterising the member for Davenport as a canine.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: To continue, Mr Speaker, I can tell the house that in 2015-16, there was a budget of $4.996 million for the agency—

The Hon. J.M. Rankine interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is called to order.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: Some questions have been asked about manning. At the end of September 2016, IASA employed 34.6 FTEs. The FTE cap for 2016-17 is 40.5, but it has not been filled.

Mr KNOLL: Point of order, Mr Speaker: very clearly, this information is all available in the budget and Auditor-General's Report.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: One member asks the question and the other member gets up and says he is a fool for asking it because it's all out there in public information. Mr Speaker, what a rabble! Mr Wokinabox has gone and they fall apart.

The SPEAKER: The minister is warned. The minister will be seated. The point of order?

Mr KNOLL: I ask the member to withdraw and apologise for the use of the word 'fool'.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: Mr Speaker, I didn't mention that word towards any member. I said one member over there asks the question and the other one stands up and says he is a fool for asking it. That's what I said.

The SPEAKER: The minister is warned for the second and final time for an impromptu speech that in fact contained a correct ruling. The minister has more.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH: I am delighted to be asked questions by those opposite because I like to give them meaningful information, and they have asked about the number of people in the Investment Attraction agency and where they have come from, and I am giving them an answer. In 2016-17, the cap is 40.5 FTEs, but I emphasise that that is nowhere near filled yet; $5 million was allocated to the EIF fund as part of the 2015-16 budget and $10 million in 2016-17. For this year, $10.7 million has been committed to the EIF and, in 2015-16, $685,000 was committed.

So, an additional $6 million over three years has been allocated for defence industry attraction. Now that I have answered the question about the number of people, I think I have answered the question about funding for the organisation, but I will get back to the house about from which agencies those people originated. This has been raised fairly efficiently by redistributing existing resources across government to harness them more effectively, which is what the government does.

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