REGIONAL TOURISM

Mr BROCK (Frome) (14:57): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Can the Minister for Tourism please advise of his recent regional visit, and with reference in particular to the electorate of Frome?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport) (14:57): I would like to firstly congratulate the Deputy Premier on his birthday, and my grandmother who is 101 today. She has less white hair than the Deputy Premier. The member for Frome was one of the first people to write to me when I became Minister for Tourism with an invitation to attend the electorate of Frome, obviously a very important area in terms of regional tourism for South Australia, with both Clare and Port Pirie and part of the Lower Flinders Ranges as well. So, it was my great pleasure to head up to Port Pirie last week and also to meet up with the member for Stuart in Port Augusta, the member for Giles in Whyalla, and the member for Flinders in Port Lincoln.

We met with local tourism operators and sporting organisations, firstly for me to introduce myself and to say g'day, and to let them know that when it comes to tourism it is the regions that are the engine house of tourism in South Australia. When we are attracting people here from interstate and overseas, we want to get them out of Adelaide and into the wonderful regions. I will be up in the Riverland in May and have other trips planned as well. Thank you, indeed, to the member for Frome for not only attending the tourism function, but also the following day we went out to the BHAS bowls.

I really want to thank Doug Ahola, the President of the BHAS Bowls Club who was this year named the local sporting administrator for all the fantastic volunteer work that he does for the bowls club. In every community that we represent in this parliament, we have heroes like Doug Ahola and I pay tribute to him. The government chipped in $75,000 to the new artificial green there, and they gave me the honour of coming up and joining with the member for Frome not only to open the new green but also to send a couple of bowls down. My first one ended up in the gutter, and the second one was—

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: Was that like the greens at Quorn?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Yes, I told the story about the greens at Quorn, those artificial ones; I told that at the opening. Thank you very much, member for Elder. It was great to send down a few bowls and also just to be there and talk to the members. I got up at about 6.30 the next morning and went for a swim off the Solomontown jetty. This is a tourist attraction in itself, but it is not in any of the brochures.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: No, I could hear opera singing. There is a guy who gets up every morning and swims around the harbour at Port Pirie singing opera as he goes. So, anyone who is heading up that way, make sure you do yourself a favour and get in. When you get to Port Lincoln, go and do some jetty jumping. Jetty jumping is fantastic off the Port Lincoln pier.

Ms Chapman: It's actually an offence.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: No, it's not an offence. The lawyer in you can't help yourself, deputy leader.

Ms Chapman: Ask Patrick. He will tell you.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: No, it's not an offence. They actually have a caged-off area around the Port Lincoln town jetty, as the member for Flinders will know, and it is very safe for children and old fellows like myself to go in and have a bit of a swim.

One of the important things about regional tourism is the fact that a lot of the accommodation stock is three-star rated. The industry and government realise that that needs to be improved, so we have a fund where over the past four years we have put in $8 million to help operators upgrade their accommodation to four and 4½ stars. I know in the member for Mount Gambier's electorate we have The Barn and the Commodore, and we have the Standpipe up in Port Augusta. Lots of tourism operators around South Australia have benefited from this.

Our $8 million investment has resulted in a $91 million spend. Anyone who says that government should not be involved in the way free enterprise works in this state should have a look at that example, where for every dollar we are spending there is $11 spent. Not only are we seeing economic activity, with chippies and plasterers put to work, but we also have a wonderful legacy where visitors to this state who get out to our regions have fantastic accommodation.

The SPEAKER: I am afraid, minister, your time has expired.