SA Tourism, Social Media

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. How many views did the government's Sam Smith partnership generate on social media? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

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

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Mawson!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: In January, the minister told media that Sam Smith had 14 million Instagram followers and a potential reach of 740 million people. In March, the government advised The Advertiser that the project had a potential reach of 1.58 billion people. Last week, the SA Tourism Commission released its report saying that it reached 4.8 million people.

Ms Savvas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Newland! The minister has the call.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:55): Once again, I thank the member for his question. I am very happy to continue talking about tourism in all its forms, because we—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Mawson! Member for Florey!

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: —knew that we had to build back tourism and hospitality, because they suffered, they suffered by deafness from your side. When they were in their deepest despair you were nowhere to be seen.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There is a point of order from the member for Morialta, which I will hear under 134.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Sir, standing order 98: the minister is debating. Just insulting other members of parliament does not actually provide any value to the people of South Australia. She should answer the question as asked.

The SPEAKER: Order! If members are individually concerned with matters that have been raised or put on the record then of course they can seek redress through the standing orders. I understand the force of the member's submission to me is standing order 98. I understand there may have been some rhetorical flourish from the minister. I also observed that the volume of interjections from both sides is considerable and that the minister is reasonably softly spoken—or, alternatively, the level of interjections are so high that what she has to say is inaudible. In any case, the interjections are contrary to the standing orders and we will hear the minister.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I think what the member is referring to is our return on investment and the advertising value equivalent. What I said at the time is that we would do an evaluation, which has happened, and we gave a point in time, which was the 14 million. Now we have come, as a reflection and an evaluation, to the full understanding of what that return on investment was—and it is $32 million in advertising value.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: A statistic that was used time and time again when the opposition was in government.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Morialta! The minister has the call.

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton! The minister has the call.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Really? You're going to lecture me on getting things wrong? That's very interesting.

The Hon. P.B. Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier is called to order. The minister—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The only member with the call is the minister.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Thank you very much, sir.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The minister has the call.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: The evaluation report detailed all the areas that were measured. They are there for you to read, and I stand by those remarks. Obviously we are talking about social media coverage, and that is what we were focusing on here.

But let's remember where we were and where we are now. There is something we have seen: a positive momentum about South Australia. It is led by tourism, but it is led because there is a new, renewed confidence. Business SA, once again, said this this morning—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: I have said very clearly that the evaluation report details all you need to know, and it is out there. I stand by that report. What I am saying here is that you may not have found this to your liking, but we have to get out there and be unique and disruptive, and that is what this event was.

We stand by this alongside traditional marketing. We have $15 million extra this financial year for that and that is what has backed up these major events. These major events have been fantastic—the diversity, the response—whether it be the Harvest Rock music event, whether it be the VALO Adelaide 500 or the Motorsport Festival. When I look back, there are about six events that we have either brought in new or improved.

We see this positive momentum out there for tourism that we haven't seen and we certainly did not see when you had the opportunity to lead this portfolio, so I will stand by what we do. There was a $16.5 million economic impact for Harvest Rock; 30 per cent of the people coming to that event were from interstate.

We supported that event. We rolled it out and it's coming back again this year. We wait with excitement to see who will be leading that event. This is what we're here for: to build back and go beyond. We are going to try different things. We are going to be innovative.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Unless the minister has a point of order, I am going to turn to the member for Elder. The member for Elder, who has been waiting patiently, on your third government question for today's question time.