SOUTHERN FORESTS IRRIGATION SCHEME
829. Hon DIANE EVERS to the Minister for Regional Development:
I refer to the southern forests
irrigation scheme.
(1) Does the
Southern Forests Irrigation Co-operative Ltd receive any funding from the state
government?
(2) If yes to
(1), how much did it receive in each of the years since it was established, and
how much is budgeted to be paid to the SFIC over the next four years?
(3) Given the SFIS
is predominately funded by government, what is the involvement of the state
government in the operation of the SFIC?
(a) Does the state government require any records of
meetings to be made public; and, if not, why not?
(b) Does the
state provide any resources to the SFIC; and, if yes, what resources does it
provide?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
(1) Yes.
(2) The Southern
Forests Irrigation Co-operative Ltd received seed funding of $425 000 in 2017–18
and 2018–19—its first two years of operation—to
progress project preliminaries. A financial assistance agreement to the value
of $1.54 million is in place to progress final engineering, environmental
approvals, construction tender documentation and contracts.
(3) The SFIC
operates as an independent body. The state is not involved in its day-to-day
operations. The FAA has safeguards in place to ensure that public money is
appropriately spent, including milestone payments that are linked to the SFIC
completing specific project deliverables. Under the FAA, the state has the
ability to request project information, including information on project
progress, as it may reasonably require. SFIC has a standard lease agreement in
place with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to
occupy office space at its Manjimup facility. The lease to SFIC is a standard
arrangement that is currently available to external parties where objectives
are consistent and complementary with the functions of DPIRD, and is consistent
with DPIRD practice to allow related industry bodies and cooperatives to
co-locate at DPIRD facilities.