Regional Tourism

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:23): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment about regional tourism.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: During question time yesterday, the minister responded to questions regarding the future of two important regional tourism programs. He told the council that there are 'no plans to cut' (that's the quote) these programs. These are important programs that deserve a concrete commitment. My question to the minister is: does the current budget allocate funding to either the regional tourism organisation funding program or the regional consumer collaborative marketing fund for the 2020-21 financial year?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:24): Clearly, the honourable member was not listening yesterday. We are dealing with the current budget, the 2019-20 budget, and those programs are funded across that budget period. Beyond that is known as the forward estimates. It is my understanding that those programs will be funded across the forward estimates and we don't plan to cut them. But things could change; I don't think they will. They are good programs. We enjoy supporting them. The $47,000 each region gets is well spent. I am very confident they will continue to be funded, but we delivered the budget for this financial year and across the forward estimates I expect those programs to continue to be funded.