Eyre Peninsula Visit

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay) (15:36): Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to tour Spencer Gulf and Eyre Peninsula. The focus of my tour was to speak to tourism operators and organisations, to talk to local mayors and to have the opportunity to touch base with my colleagues as local members. When I started my tour, I took the opportunity to look up silo and art tours of South Australia and that led me to some absolutely beautiful silos at Kimba, Wirrabara and Tumby Bay, and I enjoyed that time immensely.

Let me touch base on some of the great people I met with, people who, frankly, have had the toughest year of their life. Coronavirus (COVID-19) has caused enormous pain for the tourism industry. In our regions, 42 per cent of the visitor economy is spent, so they themselves have been impacted as severely as people in the hotels here in Adelaide. The regions have been impacted enormously. They shared with me—which is often the story—their dedication to build the business. The fact that they had to shut down, stand down people and make people redundant was heartbreaking for many of them.

I started my tour in Port Pirie. It was great to have a Sunday Chinese dinner with Geoff Brock. The next morning, I had a meeting at Cafe Safavi, and thanks to Mark Phillips, from the Federal Hotel, who has invested heavily in doing up that hotel; and Glen Christie, the local tourism officer. We then went on to Wirrabara and Port Augusta, where there is amazing street art just under the Joy Baluch Bridge, which has still not been extended, a project that was agreed under the former Labor government. They are just doing site works now, but the street art is fantastic in Port Augusta.

Then I went through to Kimba and on to Tumby Bay, where I met with Sam Telfer, the local mayor, who is also the President of the LGA. In 2019, Tumby Bay won an award for the best street art in the whole of Australia, and it was fantastic to see it. Unfortunately, it had to be cancelled this year, but it will go ahead in 2021. I then went on to Port Lincoln, which I have to say is a beautiful place, and I encourage everyone to get over to Eyre Peninsula. I had the opportunity to meet with the local member, Peter Treloar, the Mayor of Port Lincoln, Brad Flaherty, and representatives from the RDA, and can I thank Dion and Sondra for their time.

Probably the one thing that impressed me more than everything was the opportunity to meet Craig and Sandy from the Fresh Fish Place. Craig started off pole fishing for tuna when he was a younger man, and he built his business processing fish out the back of their operation. Then they built a retail facility selling fresh fish to locals. Now they have become part and parcel of the tourism offering in Port Lincoln, and particularly when we had 20 cruise ships a year stopping in Port Lincoln, they were one of the key places for tourists to visit. Can I thank Craig and Sandy for the opportunity to speak with them about the impact of COVID. It was wonderful to see a kingfish that had come straight out of the ocean and a beautiful great big tuna as well, and I was really pleased to hear that they are exporting their whiting around Australia and overseas.

I then had the opportunity to spend some time with Xplore Eyre, and I ran into the Australian Coastal Safaris people as well. They have been incredibly exposed, because mostly they took around international tourists and they have gone away. I also spent some time in Whyalla meeting the Mayor Clare McLaughlin, and, of course, our local member, Eddie Hughes, as well as staying at the Discovery Parks. I ended my tour in Clare, and can I thank Alison Meaney from Bukirk Glamping, Mick Mittiga from Brice Lodge, and the RDA chair, Bill, and Colin and Christine from the Clare Tourism Association for meeting with me.

The key message I heard is that this government has not supported the tourism industry enough. They are suffering. What they need is certainty and long-term commitments.