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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-11-30 Daily Xml
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Auditor-General's Report

Auditor-General's Report

In committee.

(Continued from 28 October 2021.)

The CHAIR: I declare the examination of the Report of the Auditor-General 2021 open, and remind members that the committee is in normal session. Any questions have to be asked by members on their feet—I am going to allow you to sit down, member for Elizabeth—and all questions must be directly referenced to the Auditor-General's 2020-21 report and Agency Statements for the year ending 2020-21, as published on the Auditor-General's website. We have half an hour. I invite questions.

Mr ODENWALDER: I will start with SAFECOM, as we agreed, minister. I will begin in the agency report. I cannot remember the number of the volume, I beg your pardon, but page 415 of the agency report. We will start at the beginning, Significant events and transactions. We will start with the Emergency Services Command Centre. When this was first announced and then reannounced there were some delays, and I will not reprosecute that as that was well canvassed at the time in the media.

I do note, though, that on 11 March, minister, you assured the public that this centre would be ready by the fire season, noting that the fire season in metropolitan Adelaide and Kangaroo Island and so on starts tomorrow. Fire seasons have indeed already started, as you know, around the state. Then again in the Auditor-General's Report, practical completion and occupation is scheduled for November 2021. Does that mean then that the command centre is now complete and occupied?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I can advise the member for Elizabeth that the move into the emergency services headquarters will occur on 10 December for the CFS, and for the SES and SAFECOM it will occur on 17 December. Of course, there is still the contingency of the Waymouth Street building in the case of a bushfire, if those facilities are still required. So there is a contingency in place. We have had some slight delays, but it is all systems go in December.

Mr ODENWALDER: Can you explain those delays?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I can advise the member for Elizabeth that there have been some slight COVID-related delays, just like any bill that may have contributed to the slight slippage. However, it is a slight slippage. We have always said that it was scheduled for mid to late November and, given that the moves are happening in December, the slippage is only slight. Obviously we cannot wait to open it, and I will make sure the member for Elizabeth is invited to the opening barbecue as well.

Mr ODENWALDER: I appreciate that, minister. However, you would recognise that there is a practical difference between opening, as you stated, before the start of the fire season and opening during the fire season. Things are heating up very quickly, and I am sure there are people here who would rather be out there preparing to fight fires. There is a practical difference between moving in in November and moving in on 10 December.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: There has been some slight slippage, which is COVID-related, but, as I said, there are contingencies in place to make sure we are able to fully operate and be fully resilient and ready for the fire season. As I pointed out, the move into the ES headquarters will occur on 10 December for the CFS, and for the SES and SAFECOM it will be 17 December. There has been some slight slippage, but it has not been too much in the scheme of things. Obviously, we want to make that move as soon as possible.

Mr ODENWALDER: Has anyone within the CFS particularly raised any concerns about the delays in this project?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: We are constantly meeting with the CFS. We meet with the chief and other stakeholders regularly. There is obviously a dedicated project officer who works with DIT and also liaises with the developer. We are confident that those moves will happen this month. As I said, there are contingencies in place to enable other facilities to ensure that the bushfire season is well managed.

Mr ODENWALDER: I will move on to the next paragraph, which starts to introduce the Keelty review. Given the time constraints, there will be some questions on the Keelty review. I refer to the same page, page 415.

Obviously, the Keelty review made many recommendations. The government listed some interim actions and some longer term actions, and according to the Auditor-General's Report and public statements by the minister all the actions that the minister said would be complete by the beginning of the fire season have been completed. Is this the case?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: In total, the government has committed $97.5 million to create a safer and more bushfire-resilient community. There was a comprehensive action plan, which identified 69 actions to address the findings—some of them immediate, some of them long term. I can advise the house that the 27 immediate actions have all been completed before the bushfire season. Of course, work continues to implement 42 longer-term actions, many of which require further engagement across agencies with volunteers and with the community.

Whilst the steering committee is now closed, lead agencies continue to report progress to SAFECOM to inform summary reporting to the Strategic Advice and Coordination Subcommittee. That mechanism provides consolidated reporting also to the State Emergency Management Committee on actions to address recommendations from both the review and the royal commission into natural disaster arrangements.

If I can pre-empt that the next question from the member for Elizabeth will be about the long-term actions, I can advise the house that, from 1 November 2021, 14 out of the 42 longer term actions are actually complete. A further 18 are on track and forward planning is in place for the remaining 10 actions.

Completed actions have delivered benefits across five target areas: new trucks; support equipment for volunteers; better protection of critical assets; enhanced communications, improved information before, during and after the fires; and also institutional and capability improvements.

Mr ODENWALDER: I appreciate that answer, minister. You said that some 14 more have been completed now since the last announcement?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: As at 1 November, 14 out of the 42 longer term actions are complete, and 18 are on track and forward planning is in place for the remaining 10.

Mr ODENWALDER: This is expanded upon on pages 229 and 230 where it has an update on the recommended actions. It goes through the immediate action plans. Work has started on implementing longer term actions. Some of those are also aligned to recommendations of the royal commission, as I think you might have just said. What longer-term actions from the Keelty review align with the recommendations of the royal commission?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I thank the member for the question. I know he has an interest in the royal commission. If we are able to take that on notice, what we might be able to do for the member is present a chart of the state and federal action items and how they align. Do we have the short answer in front of us? No, we do not. I am happy to take that on notice. I think the agencies will be able to prepare that for the member.

Mr ODENWALDER: Did the government make a formal response to the findings of the royal commission as well? Perhaps I missed it. Is there a publicly available formal response in the same sense that you responded to Keelty?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: We will take that on notice. If there is something that is appropriate to be distributed to the member, we are happy to make it available.

Mr ODENWALDER: In formulating your response back in July last year, when you decided on some interim actions and longer term actions, how were those decisions made? Were any requests made of the minister or the government by any of the agencies to act upon recommendations immediately, but those actions were not addressed in the interim actions?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: In terms of all the immediate action items, as I said, 27 have been implemented. They were obviously taken not only from the review but also after discussion between the agencies. We are happy they have been done. Certainly, none of them are outstanding. We continue to work with the agencies to address the remaining longer term action items. Given that 40 out of 42 are long-term action items and the fire season was 2019-20, I am very confident about what is on track, but we are still forward planning for the remaining 10 to be delivered.

Mr ODENWALDER: I acknowledge my question was rather convoluted, but my question was: were any requests made to bring any of those actions forward by any agencies rejected by the government?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Member for Elizabeth, not that I am aware of. Do not forget that I was sworn in in late July, so there is certainly nothing that I am aware of. Saying that, as minister I am always advocating for more resources for all my relevant areas.

Mr ODENWALDER: Still on page 230, on the financial activity and still on Keelty, it details that some $17½ million was provided in funding but that only $6.8 million was expended. I just want to understand this shortfall. Can you expand on why that would be the case? There is some mention of COVID again.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I am able to provide some information to the member for Elizabeth, and I hope that will answer part of his query. A lot of these issues certainly were COVID-related, and I will give you an example. In relation to MFS trucks, for example, at one point I do believe that one may have been stuck in the Suez Canal. We were able to get it, but that was a real-life situation

Mr Odenwalder interjecting:

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: You're telling me! That was an issue, and I know that from time to time when trucks had to come over from New Zealand I recall that there were some transport issues. Nonetheless, we keep pushing on. There have also been some slight delays because of COVID to some of the grant programs. There was a slight delay in AVL, but that continues to be rolled out well. There was also a slight delay with safety systems.

I think it should balance out in the scheme of things, but no doubt this 12 to 18 months has been quite a challenging period with COVID and also in terms of recruiting some of the people in the country. That has presented some issues as well because of COVID-related issues. I hope that provides some insight. If you had a specific query, I could look into that.

Mr ODENWALDER: What is the status of the AVL?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: In July 2020, there was the announcement of a $5 million commitment. Following a comprehensive procurement process, Netstar was selected as the AVL supplier. The first pilot installation is planned for late in 2021, and the deployment across CFS, SES and also MFS fleets will occur between January and June 2022.

Multiple reviews over a considerable period obviously have highlighted the critical need for AVL technology. Former governments were well aware of this technology. There was a comprehensive procurement process, and we are confident that Netstar will do an outstanding job. They were selected as the AVL supplier. There has been detailed implementation and rollout planning is progressing with Netstar in consultation with each agency and volunteer groups to ensure prioritisation of the most critical assets.

I believe the first pilot has occurred; if it has not, it will be happening shortly. Deployment across CFS, SES and MFS fleets will occur between January and June 2022. The original capped expenditure of $5 million was provided in 2020-21 over three years to SAFECOM to establish the AVL system on behalf of the sector. An additional $1.5 million was provided in 2021-22, increasing to $1.8 million, which was indexed across the forward estimates, and $625,000 in capital expenditure for AVL system devices in 2022-23. The total AVL funding across the forward estimates is $12.7 million, slightly higher than we anticipated but worth every cent, in my humble opinion, especially if it saves lives on the fireground.

Mr ODENWALDER: I will go to page 424, aerial firefighting. I note there is an $8 million decrease on the previous year in the costs or the expense of aerial firefighting. Can you detail what aerial firefighting assets were contracted in the previous year as compared with what was contracted in the year the report covers? Why was there a decrease of $8 million?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Are you referring to the $7.8 million, 2020-21?

Mr ODENWALDER: No, I am on page 424. I am referring to the cost of aerial firefighting. We do not have a great deal of time, so could you provide to the committee an itemised breakdown that details the assets and explains the $8 million difference in the two years?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I will try to be as helpful as I can to the member for Elizabeth. CFS currently has a contracted fleet of 26 aircraft, 14 fixed single-engine air tankers, one high-volume helicopter, the Erickson air crane, three fixed-wing surveillance aircraft and eight rotary wing air attack observation platforms. In terms of the $1920 million figure and what seems to be a decrease the year after, it is more a case that since 2020 was such an outlier year it obviously dramatically increased for that year, but we are happy to provide that itemised list for you.

Mr ODENWALDER: Would that extra cost have been incurred during the fire season, procuring or sourcing other aircraft from other states? Does that incur a cost at the time?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: How it has been explained, member for Elizabeth, is that there is obviously a standard charge and then an extra flying charge. So the higher the flying charge the higher the charge overall, and that is what has happened for that year.

Mr ODENWALDER: That was very helpful. One of the criticisms that came up during the evidence given to the royal commission is that a lot of nationally contracted assets cannot operate in the dark. The Black Hawk you announced—which I think is Protec, the Black Hawk out at Parafield—is that accredited to fly at night? Are any of our contracted fleet?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I thank the member for Elizabeth for the question. Obviously the Black Hawks—and I am happy to invite the member for Elizabeth to have a look at these wonderful aircraft when they are down here—have been procured as part of the national tender. In terms of individual specs, though, I will take those questions on notice and come back to the member.

Mr ODENWALDER: Can we go to police now, please, as time is marching on. Page 407 details income, and the report details an increase of appropriation income, from $839 million in 2020 to $943 million, a $104 million increase. Clearly that is largely due to COVID. Is there anything else other than COVID that contributes to that $104 million increase?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: The increase mainly reflects an increase in revenues from the South Australian government appropriation received for COVID-19, and that is to the tune of $64.4 million. There is also a return of surplus cash impact of $12.6 million, and then the indexation of expenses of $19.6 million, and then there is some other to the value of $7.4 million.

Mr ODENWALDER: So, apart from COVID, no further capability in terms of police operations?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: The indexation would go to operations, I am reliably informed.

Mr ODENWALDER: The intention of the government was to achieve in the last financial year $13.8 million in savings in what was referred to as back office activities in the 2018 budget. Can you detail where those cuts were made in that last financial year?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I am advised that SAPOL is making all its savings measures. In terms of where, I will just seek some advice. Member for Elizabeth, what I might do is take that on notice. I just do not have that information in front of me at the moment.

Mr ODENWALDER: Could you also take on notice to detail the same savings to be made in the current financial year. I cannot remember, but the figures are approximately the same.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I can do that.

Mr ODENWALDER: I refer to page 409, income. The report identifies a $1.1 million decrease in income due to the suspension of a joint task force between SAPOL, the AFP and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. Can you tell me what the nature of that task force was and why it was suspended?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Member for Elizabeth, I might have to be cautious in providing a level of detail, as it could be quite sensitive. I am happy to take it on notice and provide the member with as much information about any task force as I am reasonably able to do, giving regard to those sensitivities that may be operational in nature. I am happy to come back to the member for Elizabeth.

Mr ODENWALDER: On the same page, the report identifies a decrease in employee benefit expenses of $9.8 million related to police service leave expenses. Does this mean that this $9.8 million is a decrease in expenditure due to police officers not taking leave through the COVID period; is that what I am reading?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I thank the member for Elizabeth for the question:

A $9.8 million decrease in police service leave expense. 2020 expenses included a lump sum accrual of 28 days leave for a large number of eligible employees.

The CHAIR: One further question, member for Elizabeth.

Mr ODENWALDER: The report notes that a number of capital projects were delayed because of staff relocation to COVID-19 duties. What were those projects? Can you list them? When were they due? When will each now be complete?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I am happy to take that one on notice, member for Elizabeth, and provide an elaborate answer to the member as soon as possible.

Mr ODENWALDER: I apologise for dragging you people over, especially the people from Corrections. I apologise.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Thanks to all the agency staff.

The CHAIR: I am sure they have all enjoyed their time. Thank you, minister, and to your advisers from me, and the member for Elizabeth, of course, for asking questions. That concludes this examination. The committee has further considered the Auditor-General's Report 2020-21 and completed its examination of ministers on matters contained therein.

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