Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-05-05 Daily Xml

Contents

South Australian Strategic Plan Audit Committee

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (15:32): I seek leave to make a brief explanation for asking a question of the leader of the government representing the Premier on the subject of the South Australian Strategic Plan Audit Committee.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: For the last 10 years, the South Australian Strategic Plan Audit Committee has reported on progress being made against strategic priorities and targets in the state Strategic Plan. This report has been published every two years. The last progress update was in September 2012. The SASP Audit Committee was dismissed sometime last year and its functions have been internalised into the Department of Premier and Cabinet. According to the government strategic plan website, it says:

The Audit Committee was established in 2004 as an independent advisory body to rate the progress against the SASP targets, based on the best information available, and to provide an assessment of target achievability. The Audit Committee produced Progress Reports in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

The web page goes on to say:

The functions performed by the Audit Committee have been transferred to the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

My questions of the minister are:

1. When will the next strategic plan progress report be released, noting that it is now eight months late, or has this task been quietly dropped?

2. If there is to be a future progress report, who within the Department of Premier and Cabinet will write it; and how can the process be described as independent of government if it is written by public servants?

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) (15:34): I thank the honourable member for his important question and will refer it to the Premier in another place and bring back a response.