Brand South Australia

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:14): Supplementary: just to be clear with the minister, he is saying that he approves of spending $400,000 more than the planned $1.6 million saving by cutting Brand SA?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:14): The honourable member has a short memory. He would recall that I said during the questions around Brand SA that the Department for Trade, Tourism and Investment has never funded Brand SA. The decision by the government was to not fund Brand SA any further, but that was a government decision, a cabinet decision. We have a responsibility and we were charged, once cabinet accepted the Joyce review, with the outward-facing promotion of South Australia.

A budget was established, it is $2 million and we are more than happy and stand proudly saying that this is an important part of the function of the department to try to grow South Australia's economy. After 16 years of a Labor government that actually had no capacity to grow it and we actually stumbled along, we have some heavy lifting to do and we don't shy away from the fact that we have actually invested in promoting this great state.