Brand South Australia

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): My question is to the Premier. Why did the Premier decide to cut the funding to Brand SA despite its substantial proven success?

The SPEAKER: Proven success? Could that be taken to be argument?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:24): I'm happy to answer this—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier has the call. Members on my right, be quiet.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —although it has been well canvassed before, sir. We thank the people of Brand SA, who took over the responsibility from Advantage SA, who took over the responsibility of SA Great here in South Australia, for the work that they have done, but we have formed another opinion on the best way to spend advertising and promotion dollars on behalf of the taxpayers of South Australia. That is a legitimate decision made by an incoming government.

The previous government made an art form of spending a lot of money here in South Australia, mainly in the lead-up to state elections. Nobody can ever forget the millions of dollars the government spent on advertising Adelaide to the people of Adelaide in the lead-up to the—

The SPEAKER: Premier, there is a point of order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The Premier is debating the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —2014 election.

The SPEAKER: Premier, one moment. The member for Lee has a point of order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Thank you, sir. The Premier is debating.

The SPEAKER: The point of order is for debate. There is a point of order on the point of order.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The member asked why was a decision taken. That gives the Premier extraordinary scope and that was the focus of the—

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. Any member is entitled to raise a point of order. I do believe that the Premier's remarks thus far have been germane to the question; however, I will listen assiduously to ensure that they remain on that path. Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, sir. What I am trying to outline to the parliament is a difference in approach between the former government and the new government. I was giving an example of the way that the previous government loved to spend money in South Australia, and some of the idiotic ways they did it, promoting Adelaide—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —to people living in Adelaide in the four weeks leading up to the 2014 election.

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

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It didn't make a lot of sense when you would go to the movies here in Adelaide and they would be flashing up 'Come to Adelaide.' I was thinking while I was looking at my GPS locater, 'I'm here. I'm here.'

The SPEAKER: Has the Premier finished? The member for Lee has a point of order. I've got a feeling it is going to be about debate.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: It is clearly debate, sir.

The SPEAKER: The Premier is respectfully starting to deviate, if he can come back to the substance of the question, please.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The point that I am trying to make is that whilst the previous government wanted to spend money, which I would assert was very politically motivated in the lead-up to state elections, we by contrast think, 'What is in the best interest of the taxpayers of South Australia?'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Is it best to advertise internally in South Australia when you're wanting to grow the size of your economy—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —by bringing more money in from outside the economy, or is it best to actually spend your taxpayer dollars outside the South Australian jurisdiction, aimed at selling the fantastic story about our state, the changed narrative about our state, to those people residing outside South Australia? So we make no apology whatsoever, no apology whatsoever—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —for promoting South Australia in Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane and Perth and other places because we've got a great story to sell to the rest of the nation. What we heard for 16 years was a terrible negative: blame game, fake fights, sending investment dollars out of our state. Since we've been elected, the people around Australia say it is a changed narrative—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —in South Australia.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: South Australia is open for business. It's a new dawn. It's a new dawn for the people of South Australia and we will work hard every single day that we are on the treasury bench to advance the cause of our South Australia, not the cynical expenditure of hard-earned taxpayer dollars that we saw over the previous 16 years.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Badcoe was on two warnings and continued to interject during the Premier's answer and she can leave for the remainder of question time. When she does, the Leader of the Opposition will have the call.

The honourable member for Badcoe having withdrawn from the chamber: