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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-12-02 Daily Xml
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Question Time

RURAL SOLUTIONS SA

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Mineral Resources Development a question about Rural Solutions SA.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Rural Solutions SA is a commercial consulting business owned by the state government and administered by PIRSA. I am in receipt of a letter sent by Rural Solutions SA to a private business in the mining sector. The letter cautions businesses about new requirements within the Mining Act for the preparation of mine operation plans and review reports. It states that PIRSA is currently finalising the guidelines to help in the preparation of those documents before touting for business in assisting with their preparation.

Effectively, one section of PIRSA has engaged in rewriting the guidelines for the production of these reports while another section is alarming the industry into paying it to produce the reports. I am informed that this letter, dated 12 February 2008, was subsequently withdrawn by Rural Solutions. I have a copy of a letter in which the minister states that the letter caused confusion within the extractive sector about whether Rural Solutions was acting independently of the regulatory role of PIRSA. I am further advised that a private mining consultancy firm also received a canvassing phone call from Rural Solutions attempting to analyse its business and its service to clients. My questions are:

1. Can the minister assure the council that Rural Solutions SA has no access to PIRSA's files on mining, mining operations, site histories, database of tenement holders, copies of proposals, and programs and submissions submitted by operators and consultants?

2. Can the minister assure the private consulting businesses that Rural Solutions SA has no competitive advantage, despite its being administered by the same department that writes and implements the guidelines under which it operates?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (14:24): Rural Solutions SA was, I believe, one of the very good initiatives made by former minister for primary industries and resources Rob Kerin. I know something of the background to this, because I was minister for agriculture, food and fisheries and, of course, Rural Solutions operates under that broad portfolio; it is certainly not any part of the minerals and resources section that reports to me as Minister for Mineral Resources Development.

Rural Solutions has a board to which it reports (although I cannot tell you the current members of that board), and its charter some four years ago now, as I recall it, was that it was to observe the principles of competitive neutrality in relation to its operations. As far as I know, Rural Solutions continues to operate that way, and I am not aware that it would have access to files or other information from the minerals and energy division of PIRSA.

However, it is a reasonable point that is made by the leader, and I will make absolutely sure that that is the case. Certainly, in my time as an agriculture minister some three or four years ago, Rural Solutions did operate subject to a board and, although it is part of PIRSA, it operated quite independently and appropriately in terms of observing the principles of competitive neutrality involving private sector businesses. I will take the question on notice and ensure that it cannot access information that is not otherwise publicly available. I guess, like anyone else, Rural Solutions can take information from the website, but I will make sure it is not getting access to information that would not be available to other contractors.

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