TASTING AUSTRALIA

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (15:03): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Tourism questions about Tasting Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY: I understand that in 1996 the South Australian Tourism Commission was approached by a company which provided the concept and costings for a new culinary festival, namely, Tasting Australia. The idea was to bring together some of the best produce and professionals in the gastronomic industry and to showcase them to both industry and the general public. As many would be aware, the event was held last weekend at Elder Park, and I understand that it was very successful.

I am told that the original company which developed the idea (Consuming Passions) was engaged to manage and coordinate the event and continued to do so until this year. I understand that the South Australian Tourism Commission declined to discuss with Consuming Passions its continuing involvement in the event and instead of renewing its contract opted to send out tender documents for the contract to other companies. My questions to the minister are:

1. Why was the decision made not to renew the Consuming Passions contract for this event?

2. Given Consuming Passions' ongoing achievement of delivering a great event within budget, why was it not invited to tender?

3. Can the minister give details of how companies invited to tender were chosen?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:04): I thank the honourable member for his most important question on the highly successful event, Tasting Australia. It was conducted at the weekend and was, indeed, a very successful event. The event has not been completed yet; there are still a number of activities to occur. But, certainly, I guess the centrepiece of the event occurred on the weekend, on Saturday and Sunday.

Tasting Australia is a biennial event. It was first held in 1997, and it is one of the top food and wine events around Australia. Of course, that is not surprising, given the fabulous primary produce in this state and all our wonderful wine and food industries. It was developed to promote South Australia's food and wine credentials and, obviously, South Australia as a tourism destination. Tasting Australia will be held from 26 April to 3 May across Adelaide, and it includes regional South Australian activities as well. There are about 80-odd different consumer events.

The SATC will continue to stage Tasting Australia beyond the 2012 event, and the next event will be conducted in 2014. In February 2011, Consuming Passions, which has been the event management company, with its very famous director, Ian Parmenter, advised the SATC that the 2012 event would be its last event and that it would not seek a new contract to manage Tasting Australia. That is the advice I have received.

The SATC acknowledges the wonderful work of Consuming Passions and the personal commitment under the direction of Ian Parmenter. For 16 years, it has been guiding this event. It has built this event up from what was a minor and fairly insignificant event that did not generate a lot of a interest to a major national and international event. The Saturday and Sunday event at Elder Park attracted, I understand, around 40,000 people.

The SATC equally recognises that, like other fantastic South Australian events, such as the Cabaret Festival, the Fringe and the Festival of Arts, which regularly change their creative directors, having new management presents an opportunity to bring fresh eyes and fresh ideas to the festival and that, after 16 years, it was believed this was a positive thing.

The SATC has very clear outcomes it wishes to achieve. It is looking for direction and management that can deliver on those goals, and the SATC will ensure that it gives whomever the new managing director might be the full creative licence to do that. The SATC is well down the track in the process of appointing a new director and, hopefully, this will be able to be announced soon.

In terms of the details of the tender process, they are operational matters the SATC is involved in. My understanding is that the tender processes are open. But, as I have said, it is an operational matter, and they are not matters I involve myself in. However, it is fabulous to recognise how successful this event is and has been and will continue to be. I am absolutely confident that it will continue to go from strength to strength.