Tourism

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:14): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. How has the state government encouraged growth in South Australia's visitor economy?

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) (15:14): I thank the member for Reynell for her question. We have been working hand in hand with the private sector in the tourism industry here, and in the past four years we have seen tourism grow from $4.9 billion a year to $6.3 billion a year. There have also been 5,000 extra jobs created in the sector.

What the sector needs is help. There are a lot of small businesses involved in the tourism industry, and they are out there trying to get money from banks so they can grow their businesses and employ more people. This is the engine room of jobs in South Australia,140,000 small businesses across this state employing 250,000 South Australians. When they go to the bank to see if they can borrow some money so they can expand their business, they have to go to Melbourne, for a start, and then they get told that they can't borrow the money. What we have done, what the Premier and the Treasurer have put into this budget, is $120 million: $50 million for grants and $70 million for loans. That is going to help those businesses right across South Australia, including the tourism sector, to grow their businesses.

It was interesting to see some of the names that lined up against this proposed bank tax, including the AHA. I have spoken to publicans who have said to me, 'You've got cellar-door grants where cellar doors and wineries can get up to $25,000 to improve their cellar door, but pubs can't.' We know that pubs are a really important part of the tourism industry right throughout our state, and a lot of them could do with a touch-up and maybe some expansion so they can employ more people. These grants and these loans will help pubs do that, so it was interesting to see the AHA come out against the bank tax, because we have to fund these grants and these loans and we will fund them with the bank tax.

When we look at regional areas—and it is interesting that we have so many country members sitting opposite—the banks have ripped bank branches out of country South Australia. I would have thought that good, hardworking members would have been sticking up for their little towns, like Willunga. The ANZ has pulled out of Willunga and Bank SA has pulled out of Willunga. I would have thought that members opposite would have been sticking up for country communities because we need strong rural communities, and banks—and hotels, for that matter—are an important part of that.

I want to look at the cruise ship industry. When the opposition was last in government, about the only cruise you could go on was Popeye. We have grown it so that this year we had 49 cruise ships come into South Australia. The industry is worth $26.9 million, and the growth is extraordinary. That is $10 million up on the previous year, and next year the forecast is for even more ships to come here, more money going into our economy. It is interesting that when the Liberals were last in government, they sold our ports and they sold them for a ridiculously discounted price, just like they sold ETSA for a discounted price and the TAB for two-thirds of what it made us each year.

When you sell something you should not be sent a bill to fix it up, and it is interesting that Vincent Tremaine, the CEO of Flinders Ports and the chair of Business SA, has asked us to pay a bill of $1.8 million to do up escalators, to do up a stairwell and a lift down there. If we don't pay that, he says he is going to put a $7 per passenger levy on every passenger who comes into South Australia. If that's not a disincentive to business and to all the small businesses—because people get off these ships in their tens of thousands and they go to Hahndorf, they go to the Barossa, they go to McLaren Vale, they go to the mall, and they spend money with small businesses and create more jobs for South Australians.

The SPEAKER: The minister's time has expired. The member for Hartley.