SOUTHERN OCEAN LODGE

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (15:50): Some three to four years ago I was approached by James and Hayley Baillie in my previous life as mayor on Kangaroo Island to have some discussions about a development they proposed over there which ultimately became the Southern Ocean Lodge. At that time I worked with the Hon. Paul Holloway, the planning minister, to get this thing off the ground and I was very pleased when the government declared it a major project because I thought that that was the only way that we would actually get it running in the best interests of Kangaroo Island and, more to the point, South Australia.

I am very pleased to report that, last Saturday, the Southern Ocean Lodge opened to visitors for the first time. It is a very expensive destination and I would have to say that it is not designed for normal family holidays. It is at the top end of the market, and it attracts wealthy visitors from overseas who desire that sort of accommodation and location. Personally speaking, I am quite happy camping under a gum tree or something similar and I cope with that quite well.

However, it is a great credit to Hayley and James at Baillie Lodges that they have got this project up and running. I think, off the top of my head, that it was around some $14 million to $14.5 million. It provided a considerable amount of employment but it was not without controversy in the development stage. I think that the unfair criticism that was thrown at it was inappropriate; however, the fact of the matter is that this is a democracy and people can put their views one way or the other, and long may it remain so.

As it turns out, this is an absolutely stunning development. I see in the local paper today that there is criticism that it will turn Kangaroo Island into Majorca. What a lot of nonsense! There are 500 kilometres of coastline for a start and, if you get in a boat and go along the coast, you see very little development. It is an absolutely stunning location down on the south coast two kilometres west of Hanson Bay. It is built on the cliffs on the side of a hill and you can hardly even see it from Hanson Bay. It is of absolutely outstanding quality.

That is what is required for this sector of the overseas visitor market. I think, off the top of my head also, that some 38 per cent of visitors to Kangaroo Island are international visitors from all over the world, many from Europe, increasing numbers from India and China, a lot of Singaporeans, and a lot of North Americans and some South Americans, just to name a few. They are fascinating visitors. They come to Australia for the wildlife. They come to Kangaroo Island, particularly, for the wildlife. That is what they come to see, and they love it.

I am still concerned that there is some quite unjust and unfair criticism levelled by people who are perpetrating all sorts of myths and stories. I congratulate the Department for Environment and Heritage and the National Parks and Wildlife Service on coming out today and dismissing some of the erroneous nonsense about special deals being done with wealthy companies which choose to invest in South Australia and about visitation to places like Seal Bay. It is absolute balderdash, and it has been perpetrated by people who cannot get over the fact that this lodge will be successful. It is in the right place and it is a good development. I am very pleased that it is now up and running.

The Baillie family are absolute experts in this sort of thing. They do it up in North Queensland and they do it on Lord Howe Island. I think that I am right in saying that they plan, if they have not done it already, to do it in Tasmania. This is the sort of quality development we need for that category of the market. We need more of it and we need it appropriately located in the right places, where it is going to work. It is fine to have multi-storey hotels in the city, that is fine, but there are locations where you need carefully built, carefully thought out and good accommodation for international visitors and those people who want to go into it. So I am very pleased that it has been most successful.