Illuminate Adelaide

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): A supplementary question to the Minister for Tourism: when the Premier announced the Illuminate event in August this year, what was the forecast number of overnight accommodation stays that event would have generated?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:09): I don't have that number with me, but what I do know is that there will be a large number of people because this is a festival that will bring people from interstate and potentially people from overseas into Adelaide, and this was a key reason for supporting this event. What we want to see is more people in accommodation here in South Australia and more artists employed right across South Australia. I don't have the figures for last week, but I know that the week before the CBD occupancy for accommodation was up to 66 per cent, by far and away the highest in South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: For last week, of course, when we get those figures, we expect that to increase because we had the NRL State of Origin match here in South Australia, and this is the type of event we will see more of—events that can exist in a COVID environment where you have large crowds but they are outdoor, they are seated and they are ticketed, because what Nicola Spurrier and Dr Louise Flood (the head of the Communicable Disease Control Branch) tell us is that best practice during the coronavirus is to be able to put people who may have come into contact with an infected person into isolation within 48 hours.

This is possible when it is an outdoor, ticketed, seated event, or even if it is an indoor, ticketed, seated event, because if somebody has been identified as having the coronavirus you can go to those people who might have spent an extended period of time adjacent to them and you can put them into isolation. This is very difficult with large mass gatherings, and it is one of the reasons why we had to make the transition from the National Pharmacies Christmas Pageant, which, of course, attracts 200,000 to 300,000 people per year.

This wasn't possible in this environment, so with regret we had to cancel the normal format, but I was very pleased that we were able to pivot this event to a new format for this year, where there will be a broadcast out to the people of South Australia who can watch this incredibly much-loved event in their own homes, but also there will be some people who will go along to the Adelaide Oval, and again an outdoor, ticketed, seated event which can be done in a COVID-safe manner.

There has to be a lot of change. The reality is that there has to be a lot of change as we adjust to the new COVID normal. I think that South Australia has done this extraordinarily well. It has been a wonderful partnership between the government, the health professionals and, of course, most importantly the people of South Australia, who have recognised that this is a very dangerous disease.

What they have done is they have, if you like, learnt about this disease, they have educated themselves about this disease and they have protected themselves, their families, their communities and their workplaces. We are now all the beneficiaries of this wonderful observance by the people of South Australia, and I think it will continue into the future.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the leader, I call to order the Minister for Education. I call to order the member for Reynell, the member for Ramsay and the member for West Torrens. The leader.