Question Time

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN TRAVEL CENTRE

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Tourism a question about sackings at the SA Travel Centre.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Yesterday afternoon, the minister said it would be business as usual when the government's tourism visitor information centre is banished from its Grenfell Street cavern to the Service SA gulag—exiled, isolated from the major retail heart, whereas in Melbourne, for example, the visitor centre is right in the middle of Federation Square with its nine million visitors a year. Nine million people visit Melbourne's information centre location compared with just 30,000 people trickling through Service SA in Adelaide.

The minister claims it is a good location. She said, and I quote, 'While people are waiting to pay their bills they can think about planning their next holiday.' She dreams that people standing in line to pay a $390 fine for driving 11 kilometres over the speed limit are in the right mood—a happy, carefree frame of mind—to spontaneously book their next holiday at Ceduna or in Mount Gambier. She also intimated that there would be no staff sackings when the existing centre closes tomorrow afternoon, and I quote her again:

The Government...took on the payment of those original staff and we've been operating the service with those staff for the last six months and we'll continue with those staff in the new service arrangements.

I have indisputable information that tomorrow a number of travel information officers at Grenfell Street will be out of a job. They have been given less than a week's notice that their contracts won't be renewed—from tomorrow, no pay, no money, no job, no wage. My questions are:

1. Will the minister make a public comment in this parliament this afternoon, or tomorrow morning at the latest, that she will meet the travel information officers whose contracts haven't been renewed, apologise to them for her untruthfulness and make sure that their contracts are re-signed by this time tomorrow?

2. When was the last time when lining up to pay a government fee that the minister felt like booking a holiday?

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) (14:23): I thank the member for his questions.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Be honest with the people who work at the Travel Centre.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Ridgway had his go.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I have been very clear, very concise and very up-front about the changes involved in the relocation of our visitor centre. I can't help it if the Hon. David Ridgway is too lazy to listen carefully or even read the information that is available. He is clearly just too lazy to do that, because we know that they are a lazy, indifferent opposition. They come in here, day after day, ill prepared, poorly researched and get it wrong time and time again. I would be very happy to go through and address the misinformation that the Hon. David Ridgway has provided today.

The reason we decided on this particular location was that it is on North Terrace and is in a major hotel precinct. I think there are about nine major hotels within about 1.5 kilometres of the building or less. The Adelaide Convention Centre is just across the road and it attracts many South Australians from all around the state. Last year alone it attracted something like 18,000 delegates from interstate—18,000 delegates across the street from the centre; 18,000 interstate people just across the road. Also, just next to the Convention Centre is our casino, and many visitors go there. Service SA is a front counter for many different government services. It is a very successful customer service model.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: What about the staff who were sacked?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Do not worry, I will deal with all the issues. I am happy to show how you have got it completely wrong. It is also a really important attribute that we have co-located with Service SA. The visitor information centre services will be conducted from a separate desk; it will be a separate service with a separate telephone service, and there will be archways of entry to allow people to go through without having to queue or get a ticket. All of that will be well signed and people will be able to move quickly and smoothly around to the visitor services.

I understand that Service SA provides twice as many customer information inquiries at the centre as it does bill-paying inquiries, so people do not go there just to pay bills. In fact, twice as many go there for other inquiries such as change of address and things like short-term permits. Service SA is also a public counter for—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —SafeWork SA. You can see that it provides a wide range of services. Around about 600 South Australians come through its doors each day for a range of reasons and it is reasonable to assume that at least some of those people might be interested in looking at holiday plans.

Nevertheless, that is not the primary reason that we located there. The primary reason is that it is in a major hotel strip and it is close to all of those other major tourism places. It is well located in terms of access to public transport, with the tram out the front and the railway station just up the road, and it is now located in a precinct that has been earmarked for major redevelopment that will have significant tourism implications. They are the reasons that we chose to locate in this highly suitable place.

In relation to staffing—I have been very clear about this and I had a media conference yesterday morning—I was very clear that currently there are five employees (FTEs) at the visitor service centre and the new service will provide 4.8. I have been clear about that right from the outset.

I have been advised that a number of staff members involved were on contracts and that they were advised back in early June—I think the honourable member said it was a week's notice or something but I am advised that they received correspondence in early June—that their contracts were not going to be automatically renewed and that they would need to apply for their positions, and a process was put in place to enable them to do that. I understand that a number of those people have been re-employed and some have not. That was the process that was used. As I said, I have been very up-front and very clear about how we have proceeded, and very clear about the implications to staffing and the service model.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Ridgway has a supplementary question.