57 Films

Mr KNOLL (Schubert) (14:56): In the course of his answer, the Premier talked about where circumstances differ they reserve the right to use different processes. Can he explain what is different about the upcoming China trip as versus the Paris trip last year?

The SPEAKER: The Premier's answer will be heard in silence.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:56): Leaving aside the differences of language and geography—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is warned for the second and final time, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The matter of procuring services for government doesn't fall to government ministers; it doesn't even fall to chief executives. It is very much down in the lower levels of the agency. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis about what procurement processes should be chosen. We've chosen in the past 57 Films, who have done a fantastic job for us. Whether we choose them in the future will be a matter for the process that I understand is underway. It could very well be that they are chosen again in the future, but that is not a matter for ministers or even chief executives. It's a matter for the individual officers who are responsible for procuring those things.

What I am responsible for is to promote South Australia and represent it to the world. That is what we are doing. We said we would internationalise the economy; we said we would take our stories to the world. We are going to China to celebrate 30 years of a sister-state relationship with the Shandong province—100 million people. When we sent back the material that was produced by 57 Films on the earlier occasion of our student ambassador to promote South Australia as a destination for students to come to, it was published to an audience of 100 million people throughout China.

That is the benefit we're getting through our investment in high-quality video messages about South Australia and what it has to offer. For the foolish remarks that were made by those opposite, that somehow this is about me getting a vote—well, there aren't that many votes in Shandong for me, sadly, although the governor of Shandong did offer to send a million people over here, and if he did you would be in awful trouble.