Every SA Government board and committee to be abolished

Premier of South Australia, the Hon. Jay Weatherill, announced three new initiatives at the forum:

The abolition of all government boards and committees;

• A new initiative directed at removing barriers to successful projects; and
• Creation of simpler regulation unit.

"Every government board and committee will be abolished unless it is put back in place through a process that we will be putting in place over the next few months," Mr Weatherill said.

"We need to ask ourselves whether boards and committees are the modern way of communicating with people."

While the second and third initiatives "will be about the next wave of regulatory reform," he said.

The State of the State forum also featured talks by:

• Professor Michael Barber, Vice Chancellor and President, Flinders University;
• Jody Burton, Managing Partner SA, Deloitte;
• Reg Nelson, Managing Director, Beach Energy;
• Mark Young, Managing Director, Adelaide Airport Limited; and
• Rob DiMonte (Chair) Non Executive Director.

Each of the speakers discussed the economic opportunities in South Australia.

"The challenge for us in this state will be to ensure that we harness the global and domestic opportunities,"Ms Burton said.

The forum specifically addressed the opportunities for South Australia in:

• Gas;
• Tourism;
• Agribusiness;
• Education; and
• Health.

"We do have a very supportive pro-development State Government," Mr Nelson told the forum.

"The South Australian Government is leading the way," he said.

According to Mr Nelson, the gas industry - and fracture stimulation in particular - presents a great economic opportunity for South Australia.

"The actions of the Government are one of the keys to avoiding gas shortages and higher energy pricing of the future not just for this state but for eastern Australia as a whole," Mr Nelson said.

Another growth area for South Australia is in the tourism sector, the forum heard.

"South Australia is now among the fastest growing state in Australia for inbound tourism numbers," Mr Young said.

According to Mr Young, the "benefits of the increased tourism are being seen in "increased retail, restaurant and hotel spend, and the facilitation of our education export."

Burton also spoke about the potential of three other important sectors in South Australia.

"In the medium-term, SA's agribusiness, education and health sectors are poised and expected to play a greater proportionate role in this state's economy than they do nationally," Ms Burton said.