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Regional development delays criticised

Posted on October 30, 2009, 9:09am

Shadow Minister for Regional Development, John Dawkins, says time is running out for the State and Federal Governments to announce South Australia’s seven Regional Development Australia (RDA) boards.

Mr Dawkins has called on state minister Paul Caica and federal parliamentary secretary Maxine McKew to expedite the appointments so funding arrangements can be finalised before the end of the year.

Mr Dawkins said the new RDA boards must be established in time to enable the considered approval of a constitution before the funding deadline of December 31, 2009.

“I’m concerned the existing regional development boards are losing valued senior staff members due to uncertainty in the sector resulting from government delays,” Mr Dawkins said.

“The process of amalgamating regional development boards and area consultative committees has been protracted since it first commenced in the middle of last year.

“The feeling among many in the regional development sector is that a hurried process has been applied to the local government funding partners, while the state and federal governments have dragged their feet.”

Mr Dawkins said the delays reflected the Rann government’s indifference to regional South Australia.

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