(1) Who are the members of the Government's Rural Transaction Centre (RTC) Advisory panel.

(2) What criteria are applied by the RTC Advisory Panel in the selection of RTCs.

(3) Has the Government agreed to all the recommendations of the RTC Advisory Panel for selection of RTCs; if not, why not.

(4) How many applications for RTCs were received in the first two funding rounds.

(5) Which applications referred to in part (4) were rejected and from which House of Representatives' electoral divisions were they.

(6) What applications for funding of RTCs were successful, what sum was granted in each case, and which House of Representatives' electoral divisions are successful RTCs located.

(1) The members of the Rural Transaction Centres Panel are:

Carol Armstrong, NT. Pastoralist, involved with the School of the Air, NT Cattlemen's Association, Member of the Chief Minister's Women's Advisory Council.

Jane Bennett, TAS. Cheese maker, President of the Tasmanian Rural Industry Training Board, Board Member of the Tasmanian Electronic Commerce Centre. 1997 Rural Woman of the Year.

Russell Broadbent, VIC. Member for Corinella from 1990-1993 and McMillan from 1996-1998.

Noel Hicks, NSW. Alderman of Broken Hill from 1971 to 1977, and Mayor from 1974-75 and 1976-77. Member for Riverina from 1980-1998.

Andrew Hunter, NSW. Executive director of Teletask, founding co-ordinator of the Walcha Telecottage.

Barry Moyle, QLD. Mayor of Johnstone Shire. Chair of the Johnstone Farmers Council and member of the Regional Advisory Committee.

Ruth Robinson, SA. Runs family property. Former Branch Chairman of the SA Farmers' Federation.

Dr John Stone, QLD. Local government councillor, medical practitioner, and company director.

David Taylor, WA. Retired General Manager of Business Banking at BankWest.

(2) Applications for Project Assistance under the RTC Programme are considered against the following eligibility criteria. The criteria are not listed in order of importance and applications will not necessarily have to meet all of the criteria to be successful.

The existing availability of services and the likelihood of services being provided in the near future by other providers;

The extent of community support and management;

The extent to which the applicant and others will contribute;

The extent of support from State/Territory and local government and the relationships with their initiatives, such as one stop shops and telecentres where appropriate;

The long-term viability of the project after Federal Government assistance ceases; and

The environmental and heritage impact of the project.

(3) The Advisory Panel does not make recommendations to the Minister. To date the Minister has taken account of the advice of the Advisory Panel and his decisions have been consistent with the Panel's assessments in relation to all applications considered.

(4) 17 applications for Project Assistance and 47 applications for Business Planning Assistance were considered in the first two funding rounds.

(5) In Rounds 1 and 2 the following eight applications were not approved for funding. One application, from Dargo Community Group Inc. was referred to the Rural Communities Programme for consideration.

(6) The following 10 applications for Project Assistance Funding to establish RTCs were successful in Rounds 1 and 2 of the programme: