AUSTRALIAN UNDERWATER
DISCOVERY CENTRE
1318. Hon
COLIN HOLT to the minister representing the Minister for Finance:
I
refer to an application under the market-led proposal program from the
Busselton jetty for the Australian Underwater Discovery Centre.
(1) What is the current status of
the application?
(2) When can the proponent expect a decision
to be made on the application?
(3) Is the minister aware that a federal government
commitment of $13 million to this project, made two years ago, will
likely be lost if the Busselton jetty does not receive matching funds from the
state government before the end of the year; and does this concern the
minister?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided to me by
the Minister for Finance.
(1)–(3) The
proposal is under evaluation within the market-led proposal process. As per the
terms of the MLP policy, the Minister for Finance is not in a position to
disclose information on that particular process. The independent chairperson of
the MLP steering committee will advise the proponent when a decision on the
proposal is confirmed.