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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-09-13 Daily Xml
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PETERBOROUGH COUNCIL DISASTER FUND

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:02): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations a question about the Local Government Disaster Fund for the Peterborough council.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: As reported on ABC radio yesterday, Peterborough council CEO Mr Terry Barnes raised serious concerns about the long delay in the funding approval and the lack of support from the state government. Mr Barnes reported to ABC radio that the patience of the Peterborough council is wearing thin over the nine-month delay in approving their $3.1 million claim to repair 80 per cent of the council's road network, which was extensively damaged in last summer's floods. Mr Barnes was told last Friday that the committee has approved their claim and made a recommendation to Treasury. My questions to the minister are:

1. Has the Minister for State/Local Government Relations consulted with the department of treasury about the council's claim?

2. Does the minister believe that the nine-month delay in approving the Local Government Disaster Fund for the Peterborough council is an efficient way to restore the damage of natural disaster affecting the regional community?

3. What assurance can the minister provide to Peterborough council residents and other councils affected by floods that they will get the much-needed funds to fix up the affected areas?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:04): I thank the member for her very important questions. I heard the radio interview yesterday with the mayor of Peterborough council. I was in Peterborough only a couple of weeks ago with the Local Government Grants Commission giving out local grants. I actually spoke to the Mayor of Peterborough, who at no stage raised the issue with me regarding the disaster fund.

Secondly, the member was talking about a nine-month delay. Let me just make it clear: we got an application from the Peterborough council on about 8 June. When you consider the process we have to go through to allocate money and have an engineer go out there and assess the damage—some councils have good records, which makes it easy; some do not, which makes it more difficult—I say the fact that the Local Government Disaster Fund committee has the Local Government Association CEO on that committee, who would be very versed with what is going on and would have been—

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: Who is it?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Who is the CEO? Okay, we will play the games.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Is this an important issue or not? I'm giving an answer.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: No, I won't even give credibility to your question. I will just make it clear right now that there is not a nine-month delay. We got the application in June; it has been assessed by the Grants Commission. We have had an engineer go out there to assess the damage and a decision will be made very shortly. I will say this about the disaster fund: it has come to my attention, in the 12 or 13 weeks that I have been minister, that there has to be a way of replenishing that fund. This disaster fund has about $40 million in it, and it is replenished through interest. I have had discussions with the Local Government Association, with Wendy Campana—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: Well done for remembering!

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: We have agreed to sit down and talk about the future of the disaster fund because there are a number of options and issues that we need to talk about, but there has been no delay. There is a very arduous process to go through and, with accountability, we have an obligation to go through a process. As I said, we only got the application on around 8 June, so there has not been a nine-month delay; it has actually been quite short.

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