WOMAD

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Can the minister advise the house about the world music festival taking place in Adelaide this weekend?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport) (14:46): I thank the member for Little Para for his question. Mad March continues this weekend with the world music festival in Botanic Park, and I am sure many people here, like many across South Australia, are looking forward to what is going to be a fun-filled four days and nights of international music from 29 different countries. I am particularly looking forward to The Cat Empire tomorrow night and Jimmy Cliff on Sunday night, and I am sure everyone here will have their own favourites they want to get along and see.

Ticket sales at this stage are ahead of any other WOMAD festival in the history of the event, and we have a 12 per cent increase on the ticket sales figure at this time last year, so I encourage anyone who has not got their tickets to get in and book to avoid disappointment—as we saw last week at the Clipsal race when the full house signs went up once we reached 95,000. I can see the member for Hammond looking at me. I can confirm Kiss will not be playing at WOMAD this year, but there will be face painting and other great activities for the kids to get involved in. There is something for everyone at WOMAD—great food, great art and, of course, the thing that underlies it all, fantastic music.

WOMAD last year contributed $11 million to the state's economy and, as I said, ticket sales are well ahead on this time last year, so we are looking for an even bigger contribution to the South Australian economy. Ten-and-a-half thousand visitors came from interstate to visit WOMAD last year and, again, we are hoping the figures track at the same levels. As I said, Mad March continues, and we look forward to everyone welcoming visitors to South Australia and getting along and enjoying visitors from around the world who are going to play some fantastic music.