ADELAIDE FESTIVAL EVENTS

Ms BETTISON (Ramsay) (14:37): Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Can the Minister for the Arts inform the house about the outcomes of the events of Mad March?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:37): The sense of excitement in Adelaide over the last month is undeniable, and much of it, I must say, was in anticipation of today's date, the birthday of the Deputy Premier of the State of South Australia. Happy birthday!

The Hon. J.J. Snelling: How many years?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Thirty-four stellar years. Of course, 2013 marked a very important year in the arts and cultural calendar, with the Adelaide Fringe being extended by a week and the Adelaide Festival staging its first annual event. We now have the figures in, and it has been an extraordinary success. The 2013 Adelaide Fringe has broken all previous box office records, selling 407,153 tickets, a 10.9 per cent increase on 2012, equating to a total box office income of $11.6 million. These extraordinary ticket sales have really confirmed the Fringe status as the most popular and diverse arts festival in Australia.

Artistic Director David Sefton's first Adelaide Festival easily surpassed its box office income target, with 76 sell-out performances, contributing to a total income in excess of $2.6 million across 44 ticketed events. The festival is projected to generate a total economic benefit of around $25 million, with 28 per cent of all ticketed attendances being by people from overseas or interstate (up from 24 per cent the year before). WOMADelaide saw 88,000 people come through the gates, easily making its box office targets, notwithstanding some very hot days over that weekend.

The other great event was, of course, the Adelaide Clipsal 500, now safely in the hands of the Minister for Tourism. He will create a bigger and better event for 2014, but it was a great event in 2013. Clipsal returned to near-record levels, with more than 286,500 attending the four-day event, and Sunday selling out for the first time in history, with 95,000 people attending, the biggest-ever single-day crowd in the history of Clipsal. It is expected that this year's Clipsal will generate more than $30 million in economic benefit for the state.

A review of South Australian major events held in March, which was released in July of last year, concluded that there are significant benefits in bringing these things together in what is said to be 'Mad March'. The connections between the events are actually bigger than the sum of the parts, and that is what all of the festivals are saying. The fact that these things are going on at the same time is leveraging up the other events. There is something for everyone. Just because you are a Clipsal fan does not preclude you from going to the high arts. In fact, I have seen many people at both events.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: You can indeed. So, many are enjoying the fact that all these things are on at once. Events of the past few weeks have proven the concentration of events and sense of excitement that builds here. The international visitors it brings, the international attention it provides for South Australia is a wonderful thing for our state as we project an image of vibrancy and excitement to the world.