South Australian Tourism Commission, $50,502,000

Minister for Tourism, $4,679,000

Membership:

Mr Knoll substituted for Mr Pederick.

Minister:

Hon. L.W.K. Bignell, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing.

Departmental Advisers:

Mr R. Harrex, Chief Executive Officer, South Australian Tourism Commission.

Mr C. Miller, General Manager, Finance and Business Services, South Australian Tourism Commission.

Mr R. Morris, General Manager, South Australian Tourism Commission.

Ms E. Nicholls, Director Marketing and Communications, South Australian Tourism Commission.

Mr M. Warren, Chief Executive, South Australian Motor Sport Board.

Mr A. Gilbert, Chief Executive, Adelaide Convention Centre.

Mr L. Harrington, Director of Finance, Adelaide Convention Centre.

Mr A. Kirchner, Chief Executive Officer, Adelaide Entertainment Corporation.

The CHAIR: We have until one o'clock. Would the minister like to introduce his advisers and then make an opening statement?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Sure. I would also like to take note of the time. We have lost a bit of time, but I am happy to do the full 60 minutes once we get started if that fits with your schedule, Madam Chair, and everyone else's schedule.

The CHAIR: I wanted to go out to the domestic violence rally, but we will go for a full hour in deference to our opposition people. I know they were very concerned about domestic violence yesterday.

Mr BELL: Happy to take the chair for you if you need.

The CHAIR: No, that is not in order. The minister.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I will hand over to Rodney Harrex, who is the chief executive of the South Australian Tourism Commission and he can introduce the team.

The CHAIR: Sounds like a plan.

Mr HARREX: I am Rodney Harrex from the South Australian Tourism Commission. On my left, I have Chris Miller, who is our acting head of Business Services at the South Australian Tourism Commission. Behind me, I have Alec Gilbert, who heads up the Convention Centre, and Mark Warren, heading up the Motorsport Board. Behind us, we also have Rick Morris, who is with Corporate Affairs and Government Relations at the South Australian Tourism Commission, and Luke Harrington, who is head of Finance at the Adelaide Convention Centre. At the back, we have Emma Nichols, who is the Marketing Director at the South Australian Tourism Commission, and Anthony Kirchner, who heads up the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

The CHAIR: Is there an opening statement?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: There will be a brief one, yes, thank you very much, Madam Chair. The 2014-15 South Australian budget underlines this government's belief in the valuable role of the tourism industry to the state's economy. During the past year, well in excess of five million overnight visitors spent more than $5 billion in South Australia across 18,000 tourism businesses, directly employing 31,000 South Australians. Although only 23 per cent of South Australians live in the state's regions, these areas account for 44 per cent of tourism expenditure, underlining the importance of tourism to the state's regional economies and regional employment.

The government recognises the important role tourism is set to play as the state transforms from its traditional manufacturing base into a range of new industries. The South Australian Tourism Plan 2015-2020 will be launched soon, setting out the framework that will enable the state's tourism industry to meet its potential. This plan includes input from all regions of South Australia, and the main message received across the state was the need to increase the reason and the desire to visit South Australia.

South Australia is not alone in identifying tourism as an important future driver of economic activity. The recent Building the Lucky Country study by Deloitte identified tourism as one of the five super growth industries set to drive the post-mining boom in the Australian economy. The South Australian Tourism Commission is charged with driving demand for visitation to the state, through its marketing campaigns and through partnerships with regions and industry. The commission strives to increase the number of visitors, how long they stay and how much they spend while they are here in South Australia.

Undoubtedly, this is an industry that is subject to economic factors beyond its control, most particularly through the ongoing strength of the Australian dollar which, thankfully for all South Australian industries, has eased from the highs of a few years ago. Internationally, we are seeing the benefits of a strategy to attract international airlines to South Australia. Emirates is now firmly established as a major carrier into Adelaide, unlocking the latent potential of our traditional European markets.

During the past year, we have also seen Air Asia X establish a new route between Kuala Lumpur and Adelaide, linking the state into lucrative South-East Asian markets through the Air Asia network. We have also seen Cathay Pacific commence direct services into Adelaide, which boost tourism and trade opportunities to Hong Kong and connectivity with mainland China, Taiwan and South Korea.

As a result of new airlines and our marketing strategies in key markets overseas, South Australia is now welcoming record numbers of international visitors; there were 381,000 in the year to March 2014. This does not happen by accident and I want to congratulate everyone at the South Australian Tourism Commission for all their hard work in identifying market opportunities and relentlessly pursuing them.

I would also like to take the opportunity of thanking the Adelaide Airport as well for the great work they do. We have Australia's fastest-growing airport, and that is due to great collaboration between the South Australian Tourism Commission and Adelaide Airport. Domestically, we have built upon the success of the Kangaroo Island Let Yourself Go campaign, and internationally acclaimed Barossa. Be Consumed campaign which has won seven international awards.

I know it is one of the favourite clips of the member for Schubert, showing off his part of the world in a most magnificent way, and it has actually changed the way tourism groups around the world are doing their marketing. It is fantastic that not only do we produce an award-winning ad, but the people right here in South Australia who came up with the creative on it are an inspiration to other people who are coming up in media or graphics and everything else. Just recapping some of the awards it has won:

Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards: Grand Prix and Gold for best tourism marketing (best ad in the world);

Berlin Golden City Gate tourism award;

Warsaw Film, Art & Tourism Festival award;

Riga Tourfilm festival—first place in the category of commercial tourism;

International Tourism Film Festival of Bulgaria;

Zagreb Tourfilm Festival: Grand Prix; and

Baku International Tourism Film Festival: Grand Prix and best director.

It is an ad that was built for the domestic market but is achieving high acclaim and high play right throughout the world.

Our new campaign, Adelaide. Breathe. was launched in February which challenges the traditional perceptions of the city and surrounding regions. As the gateway to the state, increasing the appeal of Adelaide as a destination is crucial. Government investment in key infrastructure in the city such as Adelaide Oval and the Riverbank precinct provides a spark for visitation to Adelaide, and the South Australian Tourism Commission is working with partners to exploit that opportunity.

Not only does it mean that we get more visitors here, it is also off the back of a big government spend with half a billion dollars on the Oval, $40 million on the Footbridge, and $350 million on the new Convention Centre. We are seeing hotels invest millions and millions of dollars. I think the official opening of ibis Adelaide is this week but they had their 'soft' opening last week with a $64 million investment; it contains 330 rooms. We also have the Mayfair Hotel about to open and Quest on King William, so that is 600 new rooms coming into the CBD. That is private sector investment leading to private sector jobs off the back of our very important investment.

What we have been doing is encouraging fans of AFL teams playing in Adelaide to extend their stay. We do not want them just coming for the match; we want them to get out and have a look at our regions as well. Our occupancy rates in city hotels around the matches has been incredible, with a huge increase. That is why the government invested to win a premium package of matches at next year's Cricket World Cup, including the India v Pakistan game, which is the biggest game in world cricket in terms of viewing audience with over a billion people expected to tune in around the world.

Having the India content at the event will in turn give the state the opportunity to showcase our new infrastructure to business leaders from one of the world's fastest-growing economies which could in turn drive investment in trade and tourism. What we want to do is not just have the game of cricket, but have a business forum around it where we host 30 Indian business people and 30 Australian business people.

I caught up with Lachlan Murdoch a few weeks ago who has a huge interest in Star TV in India and he wants to be a part of it. We also have resource kings from India who want to come down and do business, so it really is an important event for us. There have been 35,000 tickets sold to people living interstate and overseas, so you can imagine Adelaide will look very different on the weekend of 14-15 February next year, and I want to congratulate Rick Morris, who did so much work in making sure that we secured the games that we did for the World Cup Cricket.

The South Australian Tourism Commission is also actively involved in the new Tourism Australia campaign, Restaurant Australia, which underlies the nation's food and wine proposition and obviously plays to our strength here in South Australia with great Limestone Coast food. We were down there the other day having the Wagyu beef and seafood from Eyre Peninsula, member for Flinders, and of course the Barossa already has its great reputation through its own marketing, but also through a lot of marketing that the South Australian Tourism Commission has done as well. So, it really plays to our strength of premium food and wine from our clean environment.

Growing existing events and attracting new events will continue to be a key part of the strategy to showcase the best of South Australia, which is why the government has committed significant additional funds to bid for new leisure and business events. The funds include $2 million for business events to support the completion of the new redeveloped Convention Centre. Business travellers are high-yielding by nature, spending more than $600 a day, which is more than three times that of the leisure visitor.

For this very reason, the global convention industry is now highly competitive, with destinations buying events due to the economic value of conventions to their destination or city. For example, an event with around 3,000 people over a week would generate about $15 million in economic value. It would generate about 20,000 bed nights in addition to the many business and trade opportunities generated for industry, retailers and restaurants. The government is also providing $6 million over four years to support bidding for new leisure events, in recognition that events are not only a major driver for visitation for the state but they add to the vibrancy of our city and regions.

In this budget, the government has also provided the Tourism Commission with additional funds to take the Tasting Australia annual from 2016. Its success once again staked the state's legitimate claim to be Australia's destination for the best food and drink in Australia. Tourism is a tough and competitive business; it demands not only investment but sound, strategic thinking and innovation. I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the commitment of the South Australian Tourism Commission staff and the industry members who we work with every day that we do this job right around this state and for continuing to work towards growing this important economic driver for the state.

Mr KNOLL: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 141, Targets 2014-15. The final dot point relates to working in partnership with the Adelaide Convention Centre, and I notice that we have a number of advisers here from there. Can the minister advise on the status of the upgrade: is stage 1 on track for completion late this year, is that aspect of the project on budget, and what are the details of spending still to take place?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Thank you very much for the question. We have different departments here at the Convention Centre in terms of filling it (that is my role) and, in terms of building, it is the Minister for Infrastructure who is responsible for that build, so that is a question better put to the Minister for Infrastructure. We are doing our darnedest to make sure that we get as many conferences and conventions there not only to fill the Convention Centre but also to fill as many hotel rooms and get people out and about to regional South Australia.

Mr KNOLL: Has the minister had to take into account any delay, with either stage 1 or changes to the delivery time frame for stage 2, in relation to how he goes about filling the Convention Centre?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: No, the latest advice I have is that stage 1 will be finished towards the end of this year, ready for functions at the beginning of next year.

Mr TRELOAR: Minister, I refer you to Budget Paper 3, Budget Statement, page 177, South Australian state public sector organisations. I note the government's recent statement that all 440 government boards are on notice unless they can prove their worth. With the axe due to swing through to government boards by late October, I presume that the assessment process is well and truly underway. Further to that, we have been advised that the chief executive of the SATC has advised some stakeholders that that board is likely to be gone by late this year.

Can the minister confirm the tenure of the following boards for which the minister has responsibility: the South Australian Tourism Commission Board, the South Australian Tourism Commission Board Internal Audit and Risk Committee, the South Australian Motor Sport Board, the Adelaide Entertainments Board, and the Adelaide Convention Centre Corporation Board?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I think in terms of the South Australian Tourism Commission Board, I have asked Warren McCann to do a review of that board and see if there is a better way we can run things in South Australia. I think the board has been in place under the tourism act since 1993, so we have had 30 years of doing things a certain way. I wonder whether the quarter of a million dollars that we spend on the board could be better spent in marketing South Australia—perhaps we have a group of tourism industry players I get together with, along with the South Australian Tourism Commission CE, every three to four months. Mr McCann is undertaking that review at the moment.

It is one of the few portfolios in government where a minister cannot go directly to the CE; they have to go through a board, and I wonder whether that is the most efficient way of doing things. Mr McCann is undertaking that. If the tourism board were to go, it would make sense that the Tourism Commission Board’s audit committee, which I think you mentioned, would go. Basically, every board we have is being asked to justify why they should continue to exist. That is just a process we are going through at the moment to see if there may not be better and more efficient ways of doing things.

Mr TRELOAR: Minister, in the event that the SATC Board is abolished, we are particularly interested to know about how particular decisions over the tourism industry will be managed. You have alluded to the fact that you are investigating that at the moment, but an example I would give you is that it has been widely reported, of course, that you, the minister, supported the creation of a separate McLaren Vale tourism region, and the board did not support that move. How do you intend to work through such propositions?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Well, I do not know whether the board did not support that move—I have not seen anything to say that—but I know the CE did not support it; he wants to see fewer regions. We had the discussion and he won, and that is how you do business.

Mr TRELOAR: If there is no board in place, where will the checks and balances be in making these types of decisions if there is a conflict of interest, for example?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: The Minister for Infrastructure, for example, does not have a board to go through to work out where things are going to be built and where things are going to be spent. If there is a portfolio that is as big as Infrastructure and Transport that does not need a board to go through, I do not see why there needs to be a South Australian Tourism Commission Board.

Mr TRELOAR: To give good, sound advice to the minister.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I can get that advice free of charge from a group of industry people we can get together. I would rather put that quarter of a million dollars into marketing the state. The thing we need to do is actually spend the money interstate and overseas to tell people how good it is here.

Mr TRELOAR: Minister, it does sound like that board is going.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Well, we are going to get rid of all the boards unless there is a good reason not to get rid of the boards.

Mr TRELOAR: I note that the first piece of commentary talks about the Adelaide ‘Breathe’ campaign—this is on Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 145, Financial commentary, and you mentioned it in your opening statement. Can the minister provide a breakdown of how much has been spent on which markets since the initiation of that campaign?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: When we launched it in February, we did the spend in South Australia and in the Sydney market because we still had the Barossa ad running concurrently, but we wanted to get the message out. We did a lot of research last year, and Sydney seemed to be, obviously, the biggest market in Australia, but also the easiest market for us to penetrate. When focus groups were asked what they thought of Adelaide, they did not have an opinion; they were not negatively disposed to it, nor did they have any great positive feelings about it, so what we realised we had to do was get into that Sydney market and cut through. We have seen increased visitation to Adelaide since then.

Since 1 July this year, we have started rolling it out into cinemas in other Eastern States’ markets as well, and the reason we rolled it out in South Australia is that we are in competition with Bali and we are in competition with every other Australian region and capital, so it is really important that we actually had the ad go to air in South Australia as well to give people a sense of how much Adelaide has changed. Anyone who saw the images will note it showed a very different Adelaide from what people may have had preconceived ideas about.

Comparing the performance of Adelaide hotels three months after the campaign, March, April and May 2014 were compared with the same three months in 2013, and we had an occupancy increase of 6.4 per cent. So, it was up from 76.5 per cent to 81.4 per cent.

The revenue per person increased 7.9 per cent, from $116 per room to $125. Demand increased 7.3 per cent, from 171,800 room nights to 184,400 room nights occupied, and the daily revenue was up 1.6 per cent. Supplier point also increased by 8 per cent in this short period.

We are talking to people in the member for Schubert's area about the massive increase in visitation the Barossa has experienced since Barossa. Be Consumed was launched. We are expecting to see those same sorts of figures here. The really important thing is that we are going after a market that had never contemplated Adelaide before. In terms of that Sydney market, it is the people who want to spend a lot of money when they come here. It is a classy ad, it is high quality, and that is what we think Adelaide has to offer.

The other reason we launched in February was that the whole country is tuned into Adelaide during that period of time. We have the Festival of Arts on, we have the Fringe on, we have Clipsal and we have just come out of the Tour Down Under, which has a massive TV audience right around Australia. We launched the Barossa ad in July the year before. The Kangaroo Island one was midyear as well, but we really wanted to cash in on the fact that the newspapers around Australia were full of people talking about Adelaide and people writing about Adelaide and the great events we have here. We actually wanted to go out and show them what sort of experience it this.

I want to congratulate the creative team behind this ad because it is not how tourism promotion has been done in the past. This is about grabbing hold of people's hearts and actually giving them a feeling. They are more likely to spend a lot of money because of a feeling that they have rather than being shown a picture of a rotunda.

Mr KNOLL: Can I just follow up on that and, first of all, specifically ask what money has been spent on what markets? You are saying that South Australia and Sydney were the first two markets. Are you able to provide a breakdown and how much was spent in those two markets?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: The answer is on the way. We should play the Barossa ad while we are waiting.

Mr TRELOAR: Chair, if I may just interrupt the minister while he is looking at that, would he also be able to provide some sort of insight into any possible overseas advertising campaigns that may result from the Breathe campaign?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: The media spend is $1.482 million: $950,000 on TV in Sydney, $120,000 on TV in Adelaide, $25,000 on TV in regional South Australia, $10,000 on cinema in Adelaide, $257,600 on digital, $80,000 on press in Sydney, and $40,000 on local engagement. Thanks to Emma for those figures at hand.

Mr TRELOAR: It is amazing what you can find on your phone these days.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Exactly. In terms of the overseas spend, for the Breathe ad, just like the Barossa ad, we are actually only licensed for the music to run that at a national level, so we have paid the licence fees for the music for an Australian ad. The fact that the Barossa one is being played internationally is by virtue of the fact that it won a lot of awards, so I guess that is a nice little bonus for us.

What we do in other markets overseas is use different ways of attracting people. Quite often, our marketing is done in cooperation with airlines. AirAsia X, for example, is a good one for you, member for Flinders. They did not use the Adelaide Oval at all: they actually promoted Adelaide with a big great white shark. They promoted the fact that, if you come to Adelaide, it is one of only two places in the world where all year round you can get in a cage and come face to face with a great white shark.

AirAsia X has really gone after that adrenaline activity, which is a good example of a cooperative marketing agreement we have undertaken. We also do it with Malaysia Airlines, Cathay, Singapore Airlines—all those airlines that have been great friends to South Australia and loyal supporters for decades.

Mr TRELOAR: On this same advertising campaign, how much money was brought forward to fund the Adelaide Breathe campaign prior to the March election and what impact will that budget manipulation have on the campaign this year?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: It was $2.35 million, and that was to make the ad, which is obviously an expensive thing to pay for the music rights and other things. The thing is we have the ad and we will be rolling it out this year, the Barossa ad runs through until June next year, so they will be running concurrently, then the Adelaide ad will continue to run into the next financial year as well. We have the overlap but we just saw it with this massive investment we have with half a billion dollars going into Adelaide Oval, and the SAHMRI project. The city is so much different than it was a few years ago. We have the fastest growing airport in the country that we really wanted to capitalise on that and get that out and up and running.

Mr BELL: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 140, Estimated result. I note there is an estimated $600,000 decrease in expenses for the last financial year due to 'the timing of industry assistance payments'. Can the minister provide details of this?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Thank you again for the question. It is a timing issue, that $600,000 decrease. It depends on when a project is finished as to when we spend the money, so there were just fewer projects finished at that particular time. The money will still be paid to those tourism operators who have been given an assistance grant but it is just that it will be paid at the end of the process.

Mr TRELOAR: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 147, Financial commentary. Your favourite again. I refer to the second piece of commentary relating to the relocation of the visitor information centre to James Place. We have a photo on file of the centre closed on a recent Wednesday afternoon at 4.29pm and the phone line was in fact switched to message bank. Can the minister confirm what exactly are the opening hours of the visitor information centre?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Absolutely. It is open until 5pm. What happened on that day was one of the volunteers who was there was sick and there was a protocol in place that you could not just have one person in there on their own, so they decided to close up without any consultation with Adelaide City Council. Measures have now been put in place that if for some reason there can only be one person there, that someone makes the call through to the council and, if the council cannot provide someone at short notice, we will send someone down from the Tourism Commission to look after that. It was one occasion. Someone got sick. That sort of stuff happens.

Mr TRELOAR: What KPIs are in place at the moment to monitor the success of the centre, having recently moved, and how are these indicators tracking at the moment?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I think the best KPI is how much money you can spend in marketing and, if people are already in Adelaide looking for a visitor centre, you have them already. What we have been able to do is save a whole lot of money that we can put into marketing instead of running a big visitor information centre on North Terrace next to a lot of hotels and a convention centre that had all the brochures in it that you would expect to find in a visitor information centre. The number one priority for the Tourism Commission and me is to spend as much money as we can on marketing South Australia. I think our visitor information centres right around the state do a really good job, most are run by local councils, and we are really pleased that the Adelaide City Council is working with us on this particular joint venture.

Mr KNOLL: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 136, Program net cost of services summary. In relation to funding for SATIC and recent decisions to vary that funding, we note that in a letter that Rodney Harrex put forth on 10 April to the SATIC board he said that the SATC's intention was to tie the proposed funding to specific targets regarding the number of businesses SATIC accredits and potentially to increase the number of entrants to the annual tourism awards. Are the tourism awards receiving diminishing funding and, if so, how does it make sense to measure SATIC's success against increased entry to those awards, given that it has diminished funding?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: There is no diminished funding to run the tourism awards. What we know about SATIC is that it has about $800,000 in the bank. If we give them a whole pile of money each year, and they keep at least 20 per cent of it back to hold in the bank, that does not help us get one extra tourist to South Australia. I will go back to the point that my priority and the priority of the South Australian Tourism Commission is to spend every dollar we possibly can marketing South Australia to people interstate and overseas and to encourage South Australians to have a holiday in their own backyard and to get out to the wonderful regions that the three of you represent.

In terms of the awards, we give $100,000 for them to host them. We used to do it internally, the South Australian Tourism Commission. Since the South Australian Tourism Industry Council was formed—and it was formed off the back of a South Australian Tourism Commission initiative—there were already a certain number of members of the tourism association of the day. We have not really seen huge growth in the past five years despite a lot of money going in there from the government.

Like anyone running an operation, we have to look at where the money is being spent and whether it is being spent wisely. There has been a decision made that we will continue to work with the South Australian Tourism Industry Council, and we will continue to listen to their views on behalf of their membership. We look forward to having a good, strong relationship with them in terms of them running the tourism industry awards. They do a terrific job of that.

Mr KNOLL: Can I just follow up, and I want to give the minister the opportunity to correct his statement. You said that you fund the awards to the tune of $100,000. Is it not true that the awards are receiving only $90,000 in 2014-15, then $80,000 in 2015-16, $70,000 in 2016-17, and then reducing to $60,000 and then $50,000 in 2018-19?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: There is an offer sitting with SATIC at the moment for $100,000 this year and next year, so for the next two years.

Mr KNOLL: Just to follow up, you are talking about the fact that you have not really seen an increase in the number of entrants to the tourism awards, but is it not true that in the previous five years of the tourism awards entrant numbers have doubled over that time?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I did not say that; you are verballing me. I said that we have not seen a massive increase in the number of members of SATIC.

Mr KNOLL: Just to follow up, minister, how was the target for accreditation numbers, which was 750 in 2014-15 and 1,000 and 2015-16, decided?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: We looked at other similar organisations around Australia and the percentage of membership they had out of the total pool of operators. This is in line with what people are doing interstate. You have to have benchmarks.

Mr KNOLL: I completely agree, minister. On 2 July 2014, did the minister participate in a meeting with Ward Tilbrook and Rodney Harrex at Parliament House, and did that meeting touch on SATIC funding?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I am not sure what this budget line is, Madam Chair.

Mr KNOLL: Minister, this directly relates to SATIC funding, which comes out of the tourism budget.

The CHAIR: It is pretty specific about who is doing what at what meeting. Is there a reason that you have asked this?

Mr KNOLL: It is a specific conversation about funding which directly relates to this budget.

The CHAIR: Well, perhaps outline that.

Mr KNOLL: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 136. The program net services summary has a total of $50 million. We assume SATIC is funded somewhere out of there and, if it is not, maybe the minister could explain that, but funding for SATIC is directly tied within the minister's portfolio and within that budget line.

The CHAIR: I am not sure what the meeting you are talking about has to do with all this.

Mr KNOLL: The meeting was directly around funding for SATIC. That discussion—

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: You just asked me what the meeting was around and now you are telling me what the meeting was around. You cannot have the question and the answer—come on!

The CHAIR: Do you know the answer to the question I guess is the question, isn't it?

Mr KNOLL: In other words, you are ruling that question out of order?

The CHAIR: It is a bit too specific, unless you want to reword it in some way to make it relevant to the budget line.

Mr KNOLL: Did the minister have any discussions regarding funding for SATIC?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Yes, absolutely. We always talk about things with SATIC. We have regular meetings. Ward Tilbrook, the CEO of SATIC, and I have travelled around the state, to pretty much every region of South Australia, working together to talk to their members and hear what they have to say about tourism and to let them know what we are up to as well.

Mr KNOLL: Another follow-up question: the minister referenced before the fact that he looked interstate at targets for industry representation and providing benchmarks for SATIC in terms of the number of members that they have. I suppose the comparison now becomes quite difficult, because other states fund their industry councils, yet we have withdrawn funding but are expecting SATIC to increase its accreditation numbers significantly.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: We would expect, with 18,000 tourism operators in South Australia, that the industry's peak body would have more than 600 members, so I do not think it is unreasonable for anyone to be putting a benchmark in there that gets them to aim for higher participation. Six hundred operators out of 18,000 is pretty low. If you compare it to the AHA, the government is not putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into the AHA. The AHA is an industry association that runs itself and it has really high membership and participation from the industry.

We started this up five years ago. We have put a lot of money into it and there is $800,000 sitting in their bank account. As I said, that money is better spent marketing South Australia—marketing the Barossa Valley, Eyre Peninsula and the Limestone Coast—than sitting in a bank account. We do not provide money to people to put in a bank account. They have got the money, so you cannot give me the argument that they cannot go out and build their membership because they have no money—the money is sitting in the bank account.

Mr KNOLL: It has been publicly reported that SATIC believe their funding was dependent on Ward Tilbrook's tenure. We are therefore interested, in a budgetary sense, what issues either the minister or his department had with Ward Tilbrook. Throughout the meeting that shall not be talked about, did the minister—

The CHAIR: What budget line are you on now?

Mr KNOLL: The same budget line.

The CHAIR: So a meeting between certain persons is in this budget line?

Mr KNOLL: I can rephrase the question.

The CHAIR: Thank you.

Mr KNOLL: Throughout discussions that the minister had with SATIC, did the minister in any way express disappointment or frustration over commentary that Ward Tilbrook had been making with regard to the tourism industry?

The CHAIR: You have sort of personalised it again: 'commentary'.

Mr KNOLL: The commentary is public commentary as opposed to specific to that meeting—over changes to the visitor information centre or the change of chief executive officers at SATC.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Madam Chair, when I have meetings with people I consider them to be confidential, and we say things in meetings that are not necessarily for the public domain. If Mr Tilbrook wants to go out and talk about the content of our discussion and what we canvassed and what we did not canvass, that is his prerogative; I am happy for him to do that. I have nothing to hide. However, I do have a sense that, when you have a private conversation with someone, that is probably where it should stay.

Mr KNOLL: In the minister's opinion, has Ward Tilbrook ever made negative comment over the tourism industry, the SATC or his ministry that was not honestly reflecting the industry sentiment?

The CHAIR: I am not sure if the member for Schubert understands how the budget process works, but really you are pursuing a line of questioning that is not in order, so you need to rephrase the questions, bearing in mind the minister's last answer.

Mr KNOLL: Certainly. In regard to government funding and the maintenance of government funding, is there a culture or expectation within government that government-funded industry representative bodies should not make negative comments, even if they do reflect industry sentiment, in order to maintain that funding?

The CHAIR: You need to be mindful of Hansard, too. You are taking over Duncan McFetridge's role, I think.

Mr KNOLL: Sorry: would the minister like me to repeat the question?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Yes. Just at Nick Cave speed?

Mr KNOLL: Pardon?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: At Nick Cave speed rather than—what are those squirrels called: The Chipmunks?

Mr KNOLL: Nick takes about three and a half or four minutes to get through it all.

The CHAIR: So you would like the question put again, minister?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Yes.

Mr KNOLL: Is there a culture or expectation within government that government-funded industry representative bodies should not make negative comments even if they do reflect industry sentiment in order that government funding will be maintained?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: No.

Mr TRELOAR: Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 141, Highlights 2013-14.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Of which there were many.

Mr TRELOAR: There were many, and not just in tourism, minister. I note that one of the highlights for the last financial year was production of the South Australian Tourism Plan. We have some questions regarding the details of that plan. Page 3 of the draft plan for consultation begins by stating that the plan is focused on achieving the tourism industry's full potential of $8 billion worth of visitor expenditure by 2020. How was it decided that $8 billion of expenditure is the capacity of the industry? What was last year's (the most recent) visitor expenditure?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Last year was just under $5 billion or just over $5 billion. It jumps around. The latest figure I have seen is $5.2 billion. I guess when we first set the target for $8 billion it was a very tough target, made tougher by some events with the high Australian dollar and some global economic impacts. However, we believe that by working together with industry we can still get to $8 billion by 2020.

We have already exceeded our expectations in terms of cruise ship visitations. We had 27 here this year and we are going to have 37 next year, calling into places like Port Lincoln, Kangaroo Island and, weather permitting, Robe. As I said before, we have the fastest-growing international airport in Australia. We are working hammer and tongs to try to achieve that and we are working side by side with the industry and all the regions as well.

Mr TRELOAR: So you certainly believe it is still achievable?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: It is like if you go out and play for Port Adelaide, even though you might have lost a few games, you still have to aim to be playing in that last Saturday in September. You never lower your expectations; you always aim for the target. If you do not aim for the target you are never going to get anywhere near that area. Yes, I think we are just going to keep working hard at that $8 billion target by 2020.

Mr TRELOAR: Eight billion?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Eight billion.

Mr TRELOAR: Minister, page 9 of the draft plan talks about priority action areas, and it mentions that the cost of doing business was an issue consistently raised by industry during the consultation on the plan. What action is the government taking as a priority to reduce the cost for tourism operators and them doing business?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I think if you talk to tourism operators right throughout Australia it would probably come up as one of the high priorities in any jurisdiction. In fact, two weeks ago we had the national tourism ministers conference in Melbourne, and we had the heads of three different tourism bodies there. It was reiterated to us that the cost of doing business is hurting the industry and it is an impediment to the industry. However, a lot of those things are federal issues, so we are working together at a national level with all the other jurisdictions to see what we can do to help.

We have also provided a lot of assistance to tourism operators in South Australia as well. We increased funding to the regions in May or June last year, so the 11 tourism regions that were receiving $10,000 per region are now receiving $30,000 to help them out. That was a big increase and in line with what they were asking for. We will continue to be out there listening to industry representatives and finding out what their concerns are. We will try to fix the ones that we can fix but if they are outside our jurisdiction we will just have to work with the people who do have control over them.

Mr TRELOAR: With all due respect, minister, there is not very much in your response there that gave me much confidence that the cost of doing business is going to be reduced. Your response, really, was to give them more money.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: There is that part of it. I just wanted to say that we do assist regions and businesses, but there are things that are outside our jurisdiction in terms of what it costs business to operate. But those that we do have control over, and that we do have influence over, we will work to improve the conditions there, but if they are national ones, all we can do is work within the national framework and keep talking to our federal Minister for Tourism and other state and territory ministers as well.

Mr TRELOAR: We look forward to seeing some progress on that, minister. On page 16 of that same draft plan, it talks about evaluation and reporting, mentioning levels of industry association membership. The South Australian Tourism Industry Council is the obvious one. I believe that SATIC's membership has grown by in excess of 50 members annually over the past few years. Does the minister believe that this membership growth is a reasonable achievement in terms of levels of tourism growth over the past few years?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: You are referring to a draft plan. We have not released the final plan yet; I might remind the committee of that.

Mr TRELOAR: When will that plan be released?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: In the near future, in the next couple of weeks.

Mr KNOLL: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 141, Highlights 2013-14. I note that one of the highlights for the past year was SATC's representation of the tourism sector in a wide range of government policy initiatives, such as the realignment of planning policy to guide future development on Kangaroo Island. This included the 'assessing the feasibility of an iconic multi-day walk experience'. Can the minister give some details around this proposal and what stage the feasibility assessment is at?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: This is a question better directed to the Minister for Planning and Deputy Premier because it falls under the Kangaroo Island Futures Authority (KIFA). The Tourism Commission has had input into the potential of such a walk and has also done research and given advice on similar walks that are in place in other parts of Australia.

Mr KNOLL: On the topic of tourism trails, I refer to the great Australian food and wine trail. I remind the minister that, in the lead-up to the election, the Liberals, and especially the minister who sits in the other place—

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: He is not a minister.

Mr KNOLL: Sorry, the shadow minister—committed $500,000 to this Liberal initiative, and the minister was up in arms, stating that this was a Labor idea that was already under development. In light of this, can the minister please indicate the budget line where inclusions have been made for the food and wine trail? Indeed, if the trail is already under development, some money must have been spent somewhere.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: It comes out of the marketing budget, and it is in development. We were quite right: everyone in McLaren Vale through to Clare knew that we were working on this, and for the Liberals to come out and make this announcement showed how out of touch they were with the tourism industry in South Australia and the food and wine industry as well.

It was a major embarrassment for your leader and your spokesperson on tourism to come out with that idea. It actually came from the McLaren Vale Grape Wine and Tourism Association, in consultation with all the other associations, a year ago. I passed it on to the Tourism Commission, which thought it was a great idea. There has been all this research done around not only that trail but also one that is going to show off the fantastic aquaculture and fishery products we have over on Eyre Peninsula as well.

You are way behind the eight ball—probably 12 months behind in terms of what we were already doing. The money is there, it is being spent, and we are in the development phase, and we look forward to welcoming tourists from around Australia and around the world to do a tour that will take them from McLaren Vale, through the Adelaide Hills wine region, up through the beautiful Barossa Valley and into Clare. It is Australia's wine country.

Mr KNOLL: Minister, in light of that passionate defence can you advise how much money has been spent on the trail, how far advanced it is and when it will be launched?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: We have spent money on doing research and asking people interstate what they want. Before you actually go out and build and market something, you find out what it is that the market wants, and that is the sort of work we are doing at the moment.

Mr KNOLL: Minister, just to clarify, can you advise how much money has been spent?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: We do not have a figure on that at this stage because it is project money that comes out of the marketing budget; there is no separate line in your budget papers there.

Mr KNOLL: Did you give an indication of when it would be launched and if there is an official name for the tourism experience?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: As I said, there is a whole series of trails that will be launched later this year and that will be one of them.

The CHAIR: Member for Flinders.

Mr TRELOAR: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 142, Financial commentary. We note that there has been an increase of $900,000 in the recognition of non-cash sponsorship to managed events. Can the minister give details around the types of sponsorship and to which events?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: As you know, we run some world-class events here in South Australia, and the non-cash sponsorship could be in the form of beverages or cars provided to drive people around, whether it be for Tasting Australia or the World Tennis Challenge. I am giving these examples because they are the sorts of cars I have seen around the place. That is where that line would come from.

Mr TRELOAR: There was also $800,000 worth of sponsorship for promotion of new and existing major events. Could the minister provide a breakdown of those events and the amounts sponsored?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: All the agreements are commercial-in-confidence; we do not like to show our hand to other people in other states who might want to put on a similar event. We certainly do not want to lose the Tour Down Under, or anything else we are running here in South Australia. I guess if you refer to the previous answer I gave, the sponsorship—whether it be cash or in kind—is for things like cars. We welcome Subaru to the Tour Down Under for next year; they will be providing the cars for all the teams and officials. So, that is without going into too much detail and giving away any commercial secrets that give us an advantage over those Victorians!

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I could never call them that.

Mr TRELOAR: The next highlight discussed, amongst the many highlights, was the once-off Word Adelaide event. Where did the idea for Word Adelaide originate and what due diligence was undertaken in the lead-up to making the decision to stage the event? At the same time, minister, can you confirm what expenditure was made by government on the event and how much money was generated from ticket sales?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Word Adelaide originated when someone came to us with a good idea and the Tourism Commission proceeded with that. It was held in August last year and we hosted Matt Lucas of Little Britain fame, Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp, comedian Kitty Flanagan, and a whole range of people. Three thousand people attended Word Adelaide, and media coverage of the festival had a PR value of $7.78 million. The staging of Word Adelaide has been reviewed and, while the South Australian Tourism Commission believes the event had merit, there is currently no funding available and we will not be hosting it again.

The CHAIR: Member for Schubert.

Mr KNOLL: Budget Paper 4, Volume 4, page 146, Targets 2014-15: I note the first target, which is to further progress the Barossa Be Consumed campaign and key interstate markets. Without giving away commercial-in-confidence to our interstate competitors, could the minister provide a schedule for the current financial year of the campaign, including 2014-15 budgets?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Is that the Be Consumed one, did you say?

Mr KNOLL: Yes.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: There will be $2.7 million spent in the next 12 months in the remaining period that we have. Exactly how it will be spent and where it will be spent has not been determined just yet, but it will be a range of digital, cinema and TV.

Mr BELL: I have estimates committee omnibus questions that I will read in, and if the minister will take them on notice.

1. Will the minister provide a detailed breakdown of expenditure on consultants and contractors above $10,000 in 2013-14 for all departments and agencies reporting to the minister listing the name of the consultant, contractor or service supplier, cost, work undertaken and method of appointment?

2. For each department or agency reporting to the minister in 2013-14, please provide the number of public servants broken down into heads and FTEs that are (1) tenured and (2) on contract and, for each category, provide a breakdown of the number of (1) executives and (2) non-executives.

3. In the financial year 2013-14, for all departments and agencies reporting to the minister, what underspending on projects and programs (1) was and (2) was not approved by cabinet for carryover expenditure in 2014-15?

4. Between 30 June 2013 and 30 June 2014, will the minister list the job title and total employment cost of each position with a total estimated cost of $100,000 or more—(a) which has been abolished and (b) which has been created?

5. For each year of the forward estimates, provide the name and budget of all grant programs administered by all departments and agencies reporting to the minister and, for 2013-14, provide a breakdown of expenditure on all grants administered by all departments and agencies reporting to the minister listing the name of the grant recipient, the amount of the grant and the purpose of the grants and whether the grant was subject to a grant agreement as required by Treasurer's Instruction No. 15.

6. For each department or agency reporting to the minister, what is the budget for targeted voluntary separation packages for the financial years 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18?

7. What is the title and total employment cost of each individual staff member in the minister's office as at 30 June 2014, including all departmental employees seconded to ministerial offices and ministerial liaison officers?

The CHAIR: There being no further questions, I declare the examination of the proposed payments completed.

Sitting suspended from 13:09 to 14:00.