Tourism Advertising

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (14:55): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Treasurer, representing the Minister for Tourism, the Premier, concerning tourism advertising.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: The South Australian Tourism Commission has been forced to edit a video that was part of an advertisement for tourism for Kangaroo Island. The reason they were forced to edit the video is that the video included a section under the label 'Set off on a beachside getaway to Kangaroo Island'. The segment of the video showed a Landcruiser racing along the beach at Emu Bay on Kangaroo Island. When it was pointed out to the Tourism Commission by the local council, Birdlife Australia and various other groups that there is a speed limit and there is, in fact, only one beach on Kangaroo Island that is available to vehicles, the Tourism Commission—

The Hon. F. Pangallo: No, there's another.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: Maybe there are two, but the Tourism Commission had to concede that they had sped up the video for dramatic effect. In other words, the tourism video shows a car racing fast along the beach in a 25 kilometre speed zone and they admitted that they sped it up for visual effect. It's a good call of the Tourism Commission to have pulled that section of the video, but my question of the minister is: what protocols does the South Australian Tourism Commission follow to ensure that its promotional material is consistent with responsible environmental management?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:56): I would probably need to take advice on that particular question. I'm sure, knowing the Tourism Commission, that they give their best endeavours to try to comply with not only the laws of the land but also being responsible moral exemplars in relation to all good practices, not just in environmental management.

I do know that in some of the previous initial concepts for commercials, there were issues like road safety practices, work health and safety practices, and whether young children should be seen with their hats on on a beach as opposed to not being with their hats on on the beach. All of these sorts of complex issues in relation to setting a good example to a whole variety of worthy policy areas are matters for their consideration. It may well be that, on occasion, things slip through to the keeper, but it's not for the want of trying to do the right thing.

I will seek a formal response in relation to responsible environmental management, which is the honourable member's question, but I suspect that the answer will be that, whilst there is nothing explicit, the Tourism Commission does try to set a good example, if I can speak generally, in relation to observing good practice right across the board, including responsible environmental management.