Wine Industry

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (15:06): Supplementary: what is the minister doing to assist our wine industry and grapegrowers to expand export markets?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:06): I thank the honourable member for her supplementary question. She may be aware that the Department of Primary Industries and Regions is the lead agency supporting South Australia's 680 winemakers and 3,250 grapegrowers from across the state's 18 wine regions.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: The South Australian government has a formal relationship with the South Australian Wine Industry Association—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I am trying to listen to the answer.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: —supported by a $1 million commitment over the next four years from PIRSA.

The PRESIDENT: Order, minister! A supplementary question has been asked. It's being answered; I would like to hear the answer. Minister, continue, please.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Thank you, Mr President. I appreciate that you, Mr President, are interested in hearing the answer, whereas the opposition clearly are only interested in trying to hear their own voices. The funding that I just referred to, if the opposition heard, is referred to as Project 250. As I have mentioned previously in this place, it is in the first year of a four-year commitment given by the government to this critical industry for our state. The industry and market development program includes a range of activities that will support business skills development and ongoing business improvement of South Australian winery businesses.

Project 250 also supports initiatives at a state or regional level that continue to improve the capability and capacity of the wine industry across a range of areas from viticulture to customer service. Initiatives that are being delivered in this first year of the funding agreement include the following:

the recent pop-up wine event, WineLab, at the University of South Australia's Museum of Design. There are further pop-up wine events scheduled for May and June in the Adelaide CBD;

McLaren Vale wine region's trade-focused Meet Your Maker program, which focused on brand awareness in the domestic retail and hospitality trade;

Clare Valley wine region's riesling trade events, which celebrated 21 years since the Clare Valley screw-cap initiative;

support for the in-market activations of the Barossa wine region's international ambassadors and educators program;

support in the Adelaide Hills for training and development of the region's cellar door staff members. The program also supported Adelaide Hills to be championed at the recent Mornington Peninsula pinot celebration, held earlier in February;

the ongoing delivery of the Riverland Uprising program, which supports producers who champion the Riverland geographic indicator to be better known by consumers and trade;

seven wine industry funds as part of the primary industries' funding scheme that supports Regional Wine Association's membership and program delivery in the Riverland, Clare Valley, Barossa, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek, Adelaide Hills and the Wine Grape Council of South Australia; and

agtech demonstration sites developed in Nuriootpa and Loxton to showcase the latest technology designed to support grapegrowers to understand the opportunities presented by introducing agtech into their operations.

On that note—

The Hon. H.M. Girolamo interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: You asked the question; that's the answer.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: —I was pleased to welcome international delegates this week for the evoke ag conference, which is being held here in Adelaide for the first time, which is a wonderful achievement. Yesterday, I spoke at an event that involved putting entrepreneurs, developers and producers in contact with each other, as well as at the opening event yesterday evening at Adelaide Oval.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regions was a key partner of the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference also, which was held in Adelaide from June 26 to 29 last year. That conference attracted close to 1,200 delegates to Adelaide to learn about current business and consumer trends, the latest research and technology, and to experience a showcase of the newest and best equipment available to the grape and wine sectors.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Point of order: 186—

The PRESIDENT: I will listen to it.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: —relevance and also the member asked for new opportunities. Those were repetitive answers that were given before.

The PRESIDENT: Sit down. I'm listening intently to the answer. I'm sure that when you look at the Hansard tomorrow you will see that the minister is touching on exactly the question that was asked. I would—

The Hon. H.M. Girolamo: Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what's happening.

The PRESIDENT: I don't need your help. I would prefer the minister conclude your remarks as soon as you can so we can move on.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Thank you, Mr President, and I'm sorry that those opposite are not interested enough to listen for a few minutes about the many and varied activities—

The PRESIDENT: Just conclude.

The Hon. H.M. Girolamo: It's been going for a lot more than a few minutes.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: —that are occurring. Incidentally, the conference that I mentioned that's happening this week here in Adelaide—

The Hon. H.M. Girolamo interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: —has attracted 1,600 delegates, so again an excellent opportunity to showcase all that South Australia has to offer, including our excellent wine.