Page 2519 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 1 August 2018
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Cabinet took a different view, and the staff member would have been ensuring that the cabinet decision was followed.
MR WALL: Chief Minister, did this staff member regularly report to you and/or senior staff in your office about the progress of the land swap?
MR BARR: Again, infrequently. I would seek follow-up on cabinet decisions and their implementation, not on a daily or weekly basis but to ensure that time lines that cabinet agreed to were being followed. That would be one of the fundamental jobs of both directorates and ministerial staff. I would not overstate it so as to say “regular”. I would say that it would be a part of that staffer’s job to ensure that those particular projects that had cabinet time frames, and decisions associated with them, would indeed be followed through.
I do not as a matter of practice have the opportunity to meet with every single staff member every single day on every single issue. It is just not possible for ministers. But this issue—
Mr Coe: This was a very special issue, wasn’t it?
MR BARR: No, it was not. This issue was far from being a very special issue. It was simply needing to be assured that the cabinet decision, which was to pursue the process that cabinet had determined, would be followed through by the directorate, given the directorate’s own preference to go a different way.
MR COE: Chief Minister, did your staff member concerned or another staff member regularly follow up on all property deals approved by cabinet that were undertaken by EDD or the LDA?
MR BARR: It is difficult to say exactly. To answer the opposition leader’s question, staff members would follow up on cabinet decisions, whether they related to EDD, LDA or, indeed, any other portfolio. That is part of the government decision-making process and then following through on cabinet decisions. This is a fairly routine matter that you would expect both ministerial and directorate staff to follow up on when cabinet makes a decision. A range of follow-up actions are required both from ministerial offices on occasion and in most instances from directorates. Ministerial staff will engage with directorates to ensure that cabinet decisions are enacted.
Government—emergency relief and financial support services program
MR STEEL: My question is to the Minister for Community Services and Social Inclusion. Minister, can you update the Assembly on the outcomes of the redesign of the emergency relief and financial support services program?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mr Steel for his question and for his genuine interest in this topic. I am, indeed, delighted to share with the Assembly today the outcomes of the redesign of the emergency relief and financial support program. As members may be aware, the latest Inequality in Australia 2018 report, launched
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