Eyre Peninsula

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:12): My question is to the Minister for Tourism, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, and Minister for Racing. Minister, can you update the house on the economic conditions on Eyre Peninsula?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (15:12): I thank the member for the question. I have just had a couple of trips over to Eyre Peninsula and caught up for a lot of the time with the member for Flinders, who is a great advocate for his local area. Across nearly all of the portfolios, with the exception of forestry, we had some very good meetings and heard a lot of good news about the economic conditions.

On Sunday 16 November, a big cruise ship, the Celebrity Century, was docked at Port Lincoln with 3,000 passengers and crew disembarking. I have never seen the foreshore along Port Lincoln so busy, and all the shops and tourism operators did good business. That is really terrific for the tourism industry and for small business. I also want to thank the volunteers in Port Lincoln who do a tremendous job welcoming visitors to their town, from around the world and Australia, who arrive on those cruise ships.

I also thank the local high school. I met three students who were doing their year 12 project on volunteering and the tourism industry, so it was a great experience for them. Also in the tourism sector, last Tuesday the Premier and I joined with the minister for the environment to offer 10-year licences for the shark cage diving industry. There are three operators there: the Fox family, the Forsters and Matt Waller. They've got—

Mr KNOLL: Point of order: the extension to the shark cage diving operator licences is detailed in a press release on 25November, with the minister's name on the top of the press release.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: If we can't talk about things that happen because someone over there wants to not pay attention—

The SPEAKER: The minister will come to order. It is long usage of parliament that government questions cannot use readily available material to underpin them. So, I ask the minister to respect the house by telling it something it doesn't already know.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Sir, I am giving it an economic overview of the various portfolios that I have responsibility for, with little snippets of highlights of people we met with and how these things came about.

The SPEAKER: I just ask chiefs of staff, in preparing answers to government—

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I have no notes, I have no answer written. I am talking about some of the meetings that I have had over on the West Coast, and I think if—

The SPEAKER: I will listen carefully to the minister, but I don't want the member for Schubert able to tell me sentence by sentence what the minister is going to say next.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Sir, there was no way the member for Schubert could know sentence by sentence. I am talking off the cuff. Where are my notes? Nothing up my sleeve, sir. I am talking off the cuff.

The SPEAKER: The minister is in order. Will he continue, please.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Thank you very much. The shark cage diving industry is the only place in the world where you can do this all year round. They have come to us over the past several months and said they wanted more certainty so that they could invest more money in bigger, faster boats, and as a government we listened to them. It has not cost us a cent of taxpayers' money, but what we have done is given this industry the opportunity to expand and to double their business, to increase the shark cage diving industry to a $22 million a year industry, so I think that that is a huge win. We also met with many—

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is called to order.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: We also met with many grain growers over on Eyre Peninsula and what started looking like a fantastic season for them, with really good early rains, then saw their crops hit by frost, and we also saw a lack of rain from pretty much the first week of August, but, quite surprisingly for some farmers, they have had their best season ever, including the former member for Stuart. His brother Ian had a record crop this year around Streaky Bay, so that was good news. We wish those farmers who are still out there reaping—and I know the member for Flinders, his brother around Cummins finishes harvest today—the very best for the remainder of the season.

I also called into the races for the Gourmet Gallop back on the same day the cruise ship was in. I want to pay tribute to the Port Lincoln Racing Club because they were in a bit of trouble not more than 12 months ago and they have really turned it around and they are not just putting on a race day. The Gourmet Gallop is all about promoting food and the seafood, of course, from Port Lincoln. I also should congratulate Boston Bay Wines, who won the Winestate best riesling in Australia and New Zealand—a tremendous award for a Port Lincoln winery—and I think that is terrific.

While I was there I also launched the sardine 10-year plan, and it is terrific to see that they are increasing their catch by 4,000 tonnes a year, up to 38,000 tonnes a year, and that is a $21 million a year industry as well. Most of those sardines go into feeding the bluefin tuna, which are then fattened up, and that is a massive industry for this state. So Eyre Peninsula is an economic powerhouse, a great driver of this state's economy, and well done to all those sectors.

The SPEAKER: I appreciate that the minister's delivery was at all times extempore, and the member for Schubert did not have the minister on this occasion.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: He has never had me sir—never ever.

The SPEAKER: No, certainly not, I accept that. Other ministers are not so fortunate.