Collaborative Food and Beverage Businesses

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (14:57): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister update the house on how the government is supporting collaborative food and beverage businesses in the Adelaide Hills?

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (14:57): I thank the member for Kavel for his question, and it is an important question. He and I were both joined by the Premier over a week ago now as we made our way up into the Adelaide Hills and visited Lot 100 just out of Nairne. It is a great collaborative model. The Lot 100 group is on the Ceravolo family farm. What we saw was the Adelaide Hills Distillery, Mismatch Brewing—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —The Hills Cider Company, Ceravolo natural beverages and Something Wild. They came together as a collaboration, as a cluster, to create more jobs and a larger economy within their business model. The Premier went up there to meet them and understand exactly how they are going to expand their production line. The project is there to increase production capacity from about 120,000 litres of distilled spirit up to 180,000. It's going to create another 15 jobs.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: It is a small collaboration of like-minded businesses that have come together—

The Hon. S.S. Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Premier!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —and are doing an outstanding job, particularly in the beverage sector.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Leader, please.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: Recently, the Lot 100 facility was opened. They have state-of-the-art water reticulation systems. They have state-of-the-art natural brewing capacity as well as their distillation facility. Many of you might know, if you like to try a local gin, that the Adelaide Hills Distillery was awarded the world's best gin.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: 78 Degrees is an outstanding example of what South Australian brewers are now doing on a world stage. Mismatch Brewing is a nationally awarded brewery for some of the fine lagers and ales that they produce.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition is on two warnings.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: What we are also going to see is developing a native market garden through one of the consortium partners, Something Wild. That is a strategy around complementing the brewers and the distillers about putting some of the natural products, indigenous products, on the menu at Lot 100. For those of you who have been up through the Adelaide Hills and called into Lot 100, it is a great example of what collaboration can do with small businesses in South Australia.

Again, what it's doing is paving the way. Not only is the Something Wild initiative there but it's also about education. It's about educating consumers that some of our native foods are complementing some of our major dishes. The Premier, the member for Kavel and I were up there. We saw what South Australia is doing so well. It is producing first-class, world-class products for the world. Lot 100 is a great example. The previous government was in partnership with what Lot 100 has done. We have complemented Lot 100 now to expand to a world-class facility. They have done an outstanding job.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. V.A. Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Deputy Premier!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: The $150 million Regional Growth Fund is there and it is a long-term commitment to regional South Australia. It's a commitment that the previous government couldn't give. They didn't know where regional South Australia was. In many instances, that 10-year commitment that we gave to regional South Australia has now—

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —created confidence. It's changed the thinking of businesses coming together, collaborating. It's not about picking winners, it's not about dividing small regional communities: it's called collaboration.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: Do you know what collaboration is?

The SPEAKER: Yes.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: No, you don't.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I do.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: We all know what collaboration is, sir. What I would say is that here, in regional South Australia, collaboration, cluster and community are the three Cs that we put around the Regional Growth Fund.