Events Advisory Group

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay) (15:40): My question is for the Premier. Did the chair of the Events Advisory Group advise the Premier that they had proposals but they were not supported by the South Australian Tourism Commission?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:41): Again, we have been through this in the public domain quite a lot, but there were a large number of events that were submitted. Off the top of my head, I think it was in the order of 60, 70 or 80 different proposals that were put in. In fact, if we funded all of them, there would be many hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of support, and that wasn't the intention whatsoever.

SATC worked with the events advisory committee and also their own events group, which sits within SATC and is headed up by Hitaf Rasheed, and they looked at each of the events and the likely job creation here within South Australia and the likely interstate and, ultimately, international visitation to South Australia and made the tough decision of prioritising those. Of course, you need to also look at those that are going to be able to operate sooner rather than later because we wanted to have impact as soon as possible, and that work was done.

Of course, there were many more submissions made than there were projects approved, but I think most people thinking about it for a nanosecond would appreciate that this is very logical. You ask for a whole range of ideas and people put them in, but not all of them are going to be selected. But what I am convinced of is that we have made careful decisions and carefully used taxpayer dollars to maximise those outcomes for our state.

As I said, those outcomes are very important for our state but were not being delivered under the regime that was set up by the previous administration. They weren't being delivered, but they will be delivered going forward, which is a focus on job creation and a focus on interstate visitation in South Australia. Also worthy of consideration is stopping the leakage of people going interstate for events because we haven't had a calendar in that part of the year.

We have to give reasons for South Australians to stay here during winter and spring and not go interstate or overseas, when borders will permit, to spend their money. One of the great things about what is happening in the state at the moment—and it would be great if the opposition would acknowledge it for once—is that we have had seven record months of regional visitation—seven months in a row.

It's absolutely fantastic and it doesn't happen by accident. It happens by the industry working together with the SATC, the statutory authority, funded by the taxpayers of South Australia, looking at innovative ways to support operators during a pretty tough time, when there are border restrictions in place. We absolutely know that the effects of the coronavirus are not being felt evenly. There are some businesses, sir—some in your electorate—that are doing extraordinarily well.

In fact, South Australians are not spending money interstate and overseas: they are spending money in their own backyard. There are businesses on Eyre Peninsula that are doing extraordinarily well. There are businesses right across South Australia that are doing well. We know that because business confidence is the highest it has been in the history of the State Monitor, and we have more people employed than at any time in the history of the state.

But it is not even. There are businesses which are still struggling. That is why we are working to smooth events right across the year, clearly opposed by those opposite. Secondly, we are trying to make interventions to create more stimulus for experiences and accommodation across our state. That's why we have just recently brought forward the Great State Voucher rounds 5 and 6, experiences and accommodation. They will be run in the coming months.

We already know that this is a great program. When people spend money in regional South Australia, perhaps on an experience, the multiplier for that region is quite extraordinary. It is the same with accommodation. Maybe the multiplier is not quite as large as it is for an experience, but it is still very, very significant. That's what gives us great, if you like, confidence to continue to invest in the Great State Voucher to support our wonderful tourism operators here in South Australia.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Before I call the next question, I am going to warn the member for Kaurna for the second time and remind the member for Lee that he is on two warnings.