Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-06-20 Daily Xml

Contents

Career Employment Services Funding

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:37): Supplementary: the Treasurer has not answered the question of when the decision about Northern Futures was made and how it was communicated to stakeholders, as a result of his review of funding.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:37): I think the second part of the question is self-evident. I think the shadow minister read out a copy of a letter or an email or something that was sent from the Minister for Industry and Skills to the stakeholders. I think it is self-evident how that was transmitted to stakeholders. The shadow minister, I think, has a copy of either the email or the letter or whatever it was she was reading from.

In terms of the detail of how it is conveyed to stakeholders, that's not an issue for me as Treasurer, that's an issue for the responsible minister in terms of the implementation. The Treasurer is responsible for an overall budget allocation and individual ministers will be responsible in terms of managing whatever allocation or funding allocation or appropriation they are ultimately given. Most of those decisions will not be made publicly apparent until 4 September. In some cases, ministers will convey an implementation of a decision prior to 4 September, as would appear to be the case in relation to Northern Futures.

In relation to when decisions are taken in relation to individual funding programs, I am not going to be putting on the public record the chronology of dates and programs of discussions I have had with ministers. Ultimately, I will make general decisions as Treasurer for ministers in relation to their appropriations. Ministers will then make subsequent decisions in relation to projects and programs and especially will make decisions about how they consult various stakeholders who might be impacted by the decisions that are the responsibility of that particular portfolio, agency and minister.