TOURISM, KANGAROO ISLAND

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (14:35): I seek leave to make a brief explanation—

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: Welcome back, Carm!

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: —before asking the Minister for Tourism a question about cruise ship visits to Kangaroo Island.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: In the past—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: I didn't know you were talking to me—sorry!

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: I said 'welcome back'.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Thank you—I didn't realise you'd missed me.

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: We did.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: I didn't miss you half as much. In the past when a cruise ship visited Kangaroo Island—

The Hon. R.I. Lucas interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: —it had to lie off Kingscote, and passengers were ferried to shore by ship's tender. That journey used to take some time. I understand the minister recently opened a new landing structure at Penneshaw that will make it quicker and easier to get visitors to shore. Will the minister advise the house what this new structure will mean for tourism on Kangaroo Island?

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) (14:37): I thank the honourable member for her most important question, and I certainly had a great deal of pleasure, albeit on a fairly cold and blustery day, in opening the new landing structure at the Penneshaw township on Kangaroo Island. As members would know, the island has been the key focus for the SATC with its very impressive Let Yourself Go campaign. We are very hopeful that this new landing structure will assist the campaign and make it much easier for thousands more people to be able to visit KI.

Cruise ships have been paying irregular visits to the island over the past decade and, as the honourable member said, those ships traditionally anchored off Kingscote and tendered passengers onto the town wharf, which required, I am advised, around a 45-minute journey, which is not ideal. We also know that it can be pretty blustery around that coast.

As the SATC developed its Southern Ocean cruising strategy, aimed at developing South Australia as a cruise destination, it become clear that Kangaroo Island needed to be included as a destination. Clearly, a new tender landing structure was required to encourage cruise ship visitation to the island. SATC worked with cruise lines to find the most desirable design and location for the new structure, and the new landing structure was completed in July, with SATC providing close to $400,000 for its construction.

When I launched the structure recently, its very innovative design struck me: it is entirely made of plastic, except for the foundation structure, and features a series of different levels to be able to accommodate tenders during various tides. I am quite sure the kids would really enjoy that as a diving platform during summer.

I place on record my congratulations to those people from SATC and the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, who worked very hard on this project and made the recent launch possible. It also struck me that, as part of the innovative design, it had disability access: it had not only a series of steps going down to the different levels but also ramp structures, so I was very pleased to see that as part of the development.

I have been advised that in November Kangaroo Island will welcome its first cruise ship to the new structure, the Holland America Line's 1,850-passenger Volendam. The Volendam's arrival will obviously be a very exciting occasion; not only will it be the first ship to use the new landing structure, but it will also be the largest ship to visit Kangaroo Island. I am further advised that there is more good news to come over the coming cruise season, which runs until April.

A further three cruise ships will anchor at Penneshaw, and together they will allow more than 6,000 passengers and crew to explore and experience this wonderful island. As a result of the new landing structure, I understand that cruise companies are now far more willing to include Kangaroo Island on their itineraries, and five visits have already been booked for the 2013-14 cruise season. As a result, ships from around the world will bring, hopefully, thousands of passengers and crew to Penneshaw.

The cruise ship industry is worth about $7 million each year to South Australia, and it is great to know that the growth in cruise ship visits to Kangaroo Island is also being reflected across the state. It was indeed a great pleasure to visit Kangaroo Island again and launch the structure. It always strikes me as a very beautiful place and I always enjoy visiting there. I appreciate those others who came, including a number of different industry and tourism stakeholders who came along to celebrate the launch of this new structure.