It has been revealed that there is a staggering $8 million sitting idle in the Boating Facilities Fund according to the Auditor-General’s 2017 Annual Report tabled in Parliament this week.

Member for Hammond, Adrian Pederick, criticised the Weatherill Labor Government for failing to ensure that this money was being spent to upgrade boating facilities to support recreational fishers and tourism in the Hammond Electorate.

The State Liberals have already announced a policy to unlock the money in this fund to encourage more investment in boating facilities.

A Marshall Liberal Government will reduce the co-contribution required by councils and local communities to a maximum of 20 per cent of the total cost of the project, rather than the current maximum of 50 per cent.

“A Marshall Liberal Government will improve access to the Boating Facilities Fund for local communities to ensure we have more boating infrastructure upgrades,” said Member for Hammond, Adrian Pederick.

“The Hammond Electorate has a number of boat ramps that need to be upgraded.

“We want to ensure that the boating levy paid by South Australians is used for its intended purpose and is actually spent on upgrading boat ramps and other facilities.

“The recreational fishing and tourism sectors are incredibly important to our local communities. That’s why we should encourage investment in infrastructure that will help drive growth in both these sectors.

“Hammond is a beautiful part of our great state and we know that more tourism in the region means more dollars coming into the community which could help create much needed jobs.”

“The Weatherill Government has left millions of taxpayers’ dollars sitting idle in this fund instead of investing in much needed boating infrastructure upgrades.

“It’s unacceptable that taxpayers’ money is sitting in Weatherill Government coffers instead of being invested back into the community.

“This city-centric Weatherill Government continues to neglect regional South Australia and has failed to invest in critical regional infrastructure.”