Question Time

TOURISM, SOUTH-EAST

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:18): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Tourism questions on the subject of South-East tourism.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I recently asked one of my staff to pick up a tourist brochure for the South-East, except the one that they had was sadly out of date. For instance, in the section entitled 'A Day at the Races' you can find out what the racing calendar is but the dates are November 2010 up until May 2011. If I had wanted a brochure on any other region in the state I might have had a bit more luck. According to the staff, the brochure for the Limestone Coast has been 'delayed indefinitely', which is a shame for an industry which brings in $100 million annually to the Mount Gambier city alone. We are well into the second half of 2012, and visitors looking to spend their tourism cash in our state are being given guides that are clearly out of date. My questions to the minister are:

1. What is the reason for the delay in providing these brochures, and why is it only the South-East that is still waiting?

2. Is it the inability of the SATC to sign off on its budget further delaying production of these brochures?

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) (14:20): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. I am certainly not aware that the publication of the tourist information brochures for the South-East or the Limestone Coast has been delayed indefinitely. We know that the opposition regularly comes into this place with misinformation and poorly researched questions. So, I certainly do not accept the basic premise of the question, but I would be most concerned if that were the case, and I will most urgently look into the matter and see what delays, if any, there have been and when those matters will be addressed.