Adelaide Oval

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright) (14:35): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Minister, since the AFL games moved to Adelaide Oval, what has been the effect on city hotel revenue and crowd numbers?

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) (14:36): I thank the member for Wright for the question and acknowledge that her Crows are doing very well this year, and average crowds above 50,000 each week at the Adelaide Oval, so it's terrific to see. In fact, if we look at the Crows match against Hawthorn at the MCG a few weeks ago, they only had about 47,000 there, so it just proves that the Adelaide Oval is drawing huge crowds of South Australians and people from interstate—

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Point of order, Mr Speaker: the opposition are breaching standing order 142, the very order the Deputy Leader of the Opposition complained about early in question time.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I uphold the member for Wright's point of order. Minister.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Thank you. But new figures just out show that, if we go back to 2013 and look at the crowd figures at Football Park compared to the Adelaide Oval crowd figures, they are up 45 per cent. They are up 2 per cent this year on the previous year, they are up 5 per cent this year compared to 2014, so the growth is there but, more importantly, the spend is there as well. We know that when we go to the hotels around the city and the small bars around the city, they are doing a huge trade, particularly on AFL football days.

We've got an extra five hotels that have been opened in the CBD since the revamped Adelaide Oval opened and, of course, that investment by the private sector followed on from $535 million in taxpayers money which was put into the redevelopment of the Adelaide Oval. I think anyone will tell you that that was money extremely well spent. The Adelaide Oval is paying back to the economy of South Australia about $230 million a year, so it's a tremendous return on investment.

Talking to David Basheer at the Strathmore Hotel the other day, he says his numbers are through the roof, not just for the football but after the cricket and the Socceroos games and Liverpool—of course, the A-League final when Adelaide United won—which is kind of interesting given that his Uncle Max sort of argued against the move from Footy Park to Adelaide Oval. But David, like so many publicans in South—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Uncle Max wasn't alone, was he?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: No, Uncle Max was joined by the members opposite in their—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Opposition.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —opposition to the revamp of the Adelaide Oval. It's been a tremendous win and great to have a Labor government with the sort of vision to build South Australia's future.

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir: this is debate and is full of nonsense.

The SPEAKER: It is very close to being a bogus point of order, especially with the addition. If the member for Morialta wants to make a point of order, make a point of order, not an impromptu speech. The minister.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. When we look at these five extra hotels that have come into the economy since the Adelaide Oval revamp was opened, you might say, 'Well, we might have too many rooms.' Not true. The revenue per room has increased by 34 per cent since 2013 on days when AFL football is in Adelaide. We've seen room nights occupied grow by 35 per cent and the average daily revenue is up 15 per cent when we compare it to the figures from 2013.

So, any way you want to stack this up, it's a huge credit to not only the government investment in this but the private sector investment that has followed, because the private sector see the sort of future that we have envisaged for this state. Not only have we built things like the Adelaide Oval and the Convention Centre redevelopment, which is costing $400 million, but we have put money into our budget to make sure that we sell the great attributes that we have here in South Australia, to make sure that we market our state. There is $35 million in this year's budget to make sure that we tell the story of South Australia because we want to grow—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide is warned for the second and final time and the members for Hartley and Chaffey are warned.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: We want to grow the visitor economy from $5.7 billion a year to $8 billion a year by 2020. It's really rewarding to see these figures backing up the shift upwards in economic return on investments this government has made.