TOURISM

The Hon. L.R. BREUER (Giles) (14:36): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Can the minister inform the house about the effect the change of federal government has had on the tourism industry in South Australia?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport) (14:36): I thank the member for Giles for the question and for her outstanding contribution to tourism in her region. It was a pleasure to be up there a couple of weeks ago to visit the great people at the Whyalla Visitor Information Centre, who do such a terrific job to welcome people not just to Whyalla but to the Eyre Peninsula.

I was on the Eyre Peninsula; I started the day there this morning in Port Lincoln, and one of the things I am hearing as I am going around the state is the great disappointment that the new federal government has not appointed a tourism minister—a business that is worth around $100 billion for Australia, and $5 billion (heading towards $8 billion) in South Australia. It is a really important sector and one that is vital for the regions, where it employs over 30,000 South Australians. The people I have been speaking to, whether from Kangaroo Island, the Fleurieu Peninsula, Eyre Peninsula, wherever I have been visiting, are really quite concerned that there is no federal tourism minister.

The other thing that has upset a lot of people is the Tourism Industry Regional Fund (TIRF), which was set up by Martin Ferguson when he was the tourism minister. It was about getting more money into businesses to get them up to a higher standard, which is something the South Australian government has also been doing through the South Australian Tourism Commission, to upgrade to four-star-plus the accommodation (as much as we can) around the regions of South Australia and to bring in more, not just accommodation but activities for tourists to do as well.

We had the first round of that announced earlier in the year by the federal government and South Australia had 15 per cent of the winning applications and 18 per cent of the money. So, we got $3 million of federal government money that went directly into South Australian businesses to help improve what we have here. It was overwhelmingly welcomed by people throughout South Australia. We have 7 per cent of the population and we received 18 per cent of the funding and that, in no small part, goes to not just the incredible work of those businesses but the work the South Australian Tourism Commission does in sitting down and putting these bids together. I want to thank Mark Blyth and many of the other people at the South Australian Tourism Commission who work so well with the private sector.

I spoke to a tourism operator yesterday in Port Lincoln who was dismayed that after he and his family put in 50 to 60 hours work for a round 2 grant application, which had to be in by August of this year, so a month before the federal election—and many others around the state have paid consultants to help them put these bids together, and they have put in many hours—the new federal government has told them that it is not even going to look at any of those bids.

It is just cancelling round 2 of this very important funding mechanism for tourism operators, not just in South Australia but around Australia. So, the mood out there around the regions, and I am sure many of you will pick up on it, is that this new federal government does not care about tourism; in fact it is turning its back on a very important industry for South Australia.