Algal Bloom

Ms PRATT (Frome) (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. What does the minister say to the managers of the Ardrossan Caravan Park, Sonya and Shane? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: The Leader of Government Business with a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That question cannot be in order without an explanation. The idea that you can just—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: To ask outside of parliamentary practice, 'What would you say to Jack or Jill?' and then seek an explanation to make the question in order, sir, is out of order. The question must be able to stand alone and then the house will decide if leave is given to add further explanation. If the question doesn't stand on its own, it can't be in order.

The SPEAKER: Okay, thank you. The member for Frome, do you want to maybe slightly rephrase the question?

Ms PRATT: Thank you for the opportunity, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Has the minister visited the Ardrossan Caravan Park in the last month? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Ms PRATT: Caravan park managers Shane and Sonya have reported they have experienced a downturn in bookings, but because they design their own discount package, they do not qualify for any financial support.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:50): As I said, I have actually been up to the Yorke Peninsula three times, and on that very first day, on 28 July, I met with a variety of tourism operators. I understand that they were at that round table, and if that's inaccurate I will come back to the house and explain. The opportunity there was to actually talk face to face to people about how this impacted, at what time it had impacted. And, of course, we had our discussions about our small business grants, to make sure that caravan parks were included.

You have heard the Premier and the Treasurer talk today about being agile and looking at those exemptions as well. We want to be there, to have a support package that supports people, and we want to hear what's happening. I also had the opportunity to host one of the community forums in Minlaton for which we had a very good turnout. You were there yourself, and the member for Narungga was there. It was an opportunity for people to talk about the package and their concerns, where it was working and where they wanted us to reconsider it as well. We have done that. You saw that announcement on Monday. We have expanded what we are doing with the package, the timing of the package and different aspects towards it. We are listening.

I know myself, as tourism minister, who's very connected to the industry, that we want to make sure that people who are being impacted by this are shaping how we support them. We did this in relation to the river, and we did three rounds of vouchers. Of course, we were not able to add houseboats until the third round because they were not ready and they were not able to come back. That happened because we are listening to people. We are very well connected. We will be guided by the needs of people and hearing what's happening to them.

This is what the summer plan is about. The summer plan is acknowledging that, for our coastal regions, this is when they make the most of their money. This is when they see the highest proportion of clients come through. For many South Australians, particularly on Yorke Peninsula, this is part and parcel of what summer is about. It is going out to our beautiful regions and spending time with their families there. We know that, we hear that, and that is why they were included in the small business grant round, and I encourage them to continue to apply.