South-East Regional Development

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (15:37): We hear a lot about doom and gloom around the state of South Australia and, whilst some of that is true, with job downturns and economic distress in certain areas, there comes a point where opportunity meets goodwill. I want to talk today about some exciting opportunities in the South-East of South Australia, which I think has a very bright and prosperous future, and all that is required is a minuscule amount of investment from the state government.

I am talking about Mount Gambier Airport in particular. We are sitting on the cusp of a tourism tsunami. Last year, international tourists coming just into Mount Gambier increased by 20 per cent, from 36,000 to 45,000. A large percentage of those were from China. Golden Travel inbound tour operators are regularly talking to our city leaders around the opportunity for bringing international tourists into Mount Gambier, but there is a stumbling block. Unfortunately, our current airline—we only have one, and that is Regional Express (REX)—has a 15 kilogram bag limit.

For international tourists, as you might appreciate, Deputy Speaker, 15 kilos would be difficult—certainly for my wife, but also for me—to take on an international trip. We are on the cusp of a major increase in international tourism. I must admit, just being a local member, the number of delegations in my region talking about business opportunities and investment is something that I have rarely seen before.

I also want to talk about a very exciting development which has been going on now for 12 months, and that is the James Morrison Academy of Music. I want to inform the house that this academy, which offers a university degree, started off this year with 50 students. They are already interviewing, and next year there will likely be 70 to 80 students on top. The 50 students this year will go into second year university and the 80 coming through will be in first year. There are 130 students and, of course, the year after they are looking at another 100 students coming along starting first year. What an amazing opportunity for our town.

This academy is world class. I do not want people to get confused with Generations in Jazz, which I will talk about in a minute. This is James Morrison and his academy. He has people from around the world coming in providing tutorials or instruction for these students. To give you an indication of the calibre of the lecturers, Mat Jodrell was at the Juilliard School in New York, which is the best school of jazz in the world. As soon as James Morrison rang him and said that he had set up a school here, he resigned from the Juilliard institute, came to a little old place like Mount Gambier and started instructing.

In addition, there is Jeff Clayton, who is a saxophone player from the USA and an amazing individual, David Jones, Phil Stack, Ross Irwin, Carl Dewhurst, Gordon Rytmeister and James Muller. This has had international focus put on Mount Gambier. The opportunities are boundless in terms of this little place called Mount Gambier going onto the jazz circuit. People would fly in, visit Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Melbourne and then fly out.

I also want to bring Generations in Jazz to the house's attention. Currently about 5,000 people come to this event with 3,500 students playing jazz. As the Deputy Speaker just indicated, it has been a great addition to the town for the last—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Fifteen years.

Mr BELL: —15 years. The organisers believe that the number attending could grow to 10,000 or 15,000; in other words, it could be done multiple times during the year, but the one thing holding us up is our airport.

Time expired.