Great Wine Capitals

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:08): My question is to the Minister for Forests. What was the cost to the state government to join the Great Wine Capitals Network, and does he believe that the Riverland, the state's largest wine grape producing region, can be guaranteed a network to create jobs?

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) (15:08): I'm not sure why you called me the Minister for Forests—grapes don't grow in the forests—but I will answer it anyway.

Mr Gardner: Aren't you the Minister for Forests?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Yes, I am. We joined the Great Wine Capitals Global Network, and we are one of nine cities around the world that are in that. If you look at places like San Francisco, they just have Napa Valley. They don't have Sonoma Valley or Anderson Valley: they just have Napa Valley. If you go to Mainz in Germany, they have Rheinhessen, but they don't have Rheingold. These cities have only been allowed to have one wine region to be incorporated.

What we have done with this deal is get all 18 South Australian wine regions under the great wine capital, which is Adelaide. So, we have done a very good deal. It has taken us a while to get there. It was my great pleasure, two weeks ago, to be at the Barossa Wine Show and hand out four of the seven awards that have gone to tourism and wine operators in South Australia. I know that Seppeltsfield picked up two and The Louise picked up one.

It is great that we now have these wine and tourism operators representing Australia at the international wine competition in the global network in Porto, Portugal, in November. The Riverland is just as much a part of Adelaide's Great Wine Capital network as any other of the 18 wine regions in South Australia.