State Development Department

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:32): I seek leave to make an explanation prior to directing a question to the Minister for Employment on the subject of the Department of State Development.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The minister yesterday indicated that she had been appointed the minister responsible for the administration of this new department. Yesterday I placed on the record the fact that current chief executive, Geoff Knight, had a contract which doesn't expire until October 2017, at a total remuneration package of $374,000. The other chief executive, Mr Ray Garrand, a former Labor staffer and State Bank adviser to former premier John Bannon, had a three-year contract expiring in August of this year and he was being paid at more than $300,000. The minister indicated yesterday that of those two chief executives, she or the government had appointed the former Labor Party staffer, Mr Garrand, to be the acting chief executive officer for this particular department.

The minister will be aware that another former Labor staffer to another former premier, Mr Lance Worrall, is still lurking in the corridors of her department. He was a former chief executive officer being paid more than $300,000 per annum. He was moved sideways from that particular position or downwards, but continued to be paid at more than $300,000 when he was made a deputy chief executive officer. He was then demoted from that position from deputy chief executive officer, and Mr Knight told the Budget and Finance Committee that—to use my words, not his—he had been put out to pasture at the University of Adelaide and he was working on a project being paid for by the taxpayers, still being paid at the chief executive salary of more than $300,000.

Mr Knight told the Budget and Finance Committee that he had been seconded there for a period of 12 months, and his period of secondment commenced on 10 May 2013, so his 12-month secondment concludes this week. As I said, the taxpayers of South Australia are still paying former Labor staffer Mr Worrall more than $300,000 for whatever job he is doing at the University of Adelaide.

Given that the minister has now indicated that she is the minister responsible for this department, my questions are: what job will Mr Worrall be undertaking when his 12-month secondment to the university concludes this week, and will taxpayers continue to pay for Mr Worrall at the chief executive salary from this week through to June 2015, when his most recent chief executive's contract expires?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:35): I thank the member for his question. As I indicated yesterday, up until 30 June both the current chief executives—Mr Ray Garrand and Mr Geoff Knight—will continue in their current roles in operational matters of their respective agencies. I also indicated that Mr Ray Garrand has been appointed as interim acting chief executive for the joint agency, the Department of State Development, and will lead the executive for facilitating the transition to the Department of State Development.

I indicated that I had been appointed the minister responsible for the administration of the new department but that respective ministers will still continue with their portfolio responsibilities within that and that the chief executive will report to them in relation to that. I am responsible for administering the transition arrangements of the Department of State Development, so my current responsibilities relate to the transition arrangements of both DMITRE and DFEEST into a new state development department.