Sam Smith Concert

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:52): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. When was the minister first advised that the $32 million figure she was using to defend the Sam Smith concert mostly comprised negative press coverage? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: FOI documents reveal that the Tourism Commission claimed that an article about a concert attendee who allegedly—and I quote—'peed in the mosh' was worth $3 million advertising value equivalent, that another article about the government refusing to say how much the concert cost taxpayers was worth $6.5 million and that, along with other stories, total negative coverage was valued at $24.5 million. The minister has argued for months that this concert was a great deal for South Australia.

The SPEAKER: That question is on the cusp of—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! On one view, that question is argumentative, mostly contained and then seeking the minister's view, admittedly in relation to a matter which falls within her portfolio. However, there is no objection, and I am going to permit the question.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:53): The commentary today is about the advertising value equivalent, which is very commonly used as a methodology for calculating marketing. I have instructed the South Australian Tourism Commission not to use AVE going forward. As people know, there was a review post this publicity event, and there were recommendations within the review. Those conversations have been happening for some time, ever since it has been publicly available, and there is that decision, as I said, to instruct them, going forward, to not use that.

Mr Cowdrey: When did you find out?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: As I said, these conversations have been going some time since the review. When I think about the figures that are most important—

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Colton!

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: —that is not about measuring marketing; it's about looking at the visitor economy, and it has never been stronger. Never been stronger—$8.3 billion of our visitor economy.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Flinders! Member for Hammond! The minister has the call.

The Hon. N.F. Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hurtle Vale! The minister has the call.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: What that figure is is a figure higher than pre COVID and it's a figure that we did not expect to achieve for another 12 months. That's the most important figure here. That's the most important figure that I focus on.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer is called to order. Members to the left and right, order!

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: We made a decision that we wanted to support the tourism industry and build it back from three years of uncertainty. Let's not forget, not that long before COVID we had devastating fires in the Adelaide Hills—

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

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: —and also on Kangaroo Island, followed by the pandemic and, of course, more recently, the river. My focus is us building back and we have achieved more than ever before. Can I tell you—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: —what people have been saying to me? There's a complete absence of the opposition. This is the only thing that you have decided to talk about.

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: I will talk about tourism forever and a day because there's a lot to talk about.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Hammond! The member for Hammond is on a final warning.

Mrs Hurn: This is embarrassing.

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert!

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: Just this morning, I was in at the Tourism Industry Council of South Australia, at their annual conference. There were 350 delegates there, representing the more than 20,000 businesses involved in tourism, the highest number of businesses—

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley!

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: —involved in tourism that we have ever seen but not one, not one member of the opposition bothered to go along to that conference. In fact, no-one even knows who the shadow minister is because—

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.F. Cook interjecting:

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

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Standing order 98: in 3½ minutes the minister hasn't gone near when she was told the $32 million figure was bogus.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! That may be, but the member for Morialta has not raised a standing order with me. I am going to proceed on the basis that standing order 98 was the standing order he had in mind.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Florey is called to order. I bring the minister back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: The question that was asked was when that conversation happened and when was I told. AVE, a commonly used methodology independently analysed, has been used for years and years—years and years. There is no reason to not have used that as one of the measures looking at Sam Smith. We looked at the six million people—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hartley!

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: —for national radio partnership, the TV coverage, the articles in Rolling Stone and Billboard, the interviews that happened on Sunrise and The Project, these are the other measures—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders!

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: —that we use as well.

The SPEAKER: The minister has concluded her answer.