Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Hansard source

Just to let you know, the process through which the water infrastructure loans are administered is a different process. As you might be aware, the process that currently exists, which would continue, requires the state governments to be the ones that actually put forward the proposals in the first place. So it's a completely different process. Obviously, once we've received the applications from the states and they go through a process of evaluation in exactly the same way as they currently go through a process of arm's-length, independent evaluation, the recommendation would go back to the RIC in terms of the funding. At that point, obviously, the RIC board would make the determination in relation to the allocation or otherwise of funding to a particular project. The projects start with the states, so the RIC does not get to preside over the decision-making of the project unless it's already come from the state government.