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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-05-06 Daily Xml
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TOURISM

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (15:28): I enjoy a piece of cake. I would have been quite happy if the honourable member had brought it in here and shared it amongst the lot of us.

I was pleased today to hear the Minister for Tourism talk about spending some money on marketing. For a long time in this place I have been pushing for an increase in marketing by the South Australian Tourism Commission, and, indeed, pushing for an increase in the marketing budget substantially. I do not hold out much hope of getting that in the state budget, given the peculiar way in which this government operates and how it chooses to cut off its nose to spite its face.

We are going into winter. Hopefully, shortly, we will receive substantial amounts of rain. We will soon go into winter proper and, with a bit of luck, it will rain for about three or four months and we will all be better off, regardless where we live. However, winter in the tourism industry is a particularly bleak and difficult time for operators, just bearing in mind that the tourism industry is a very large creator and producer of jobs for the South Australian economy. For the benefit of the house, I point out the difficulties faced by operators in the city during the winter, operators in the metropolitan area and also in the regions—probably more particularly in the regions.

Operators have to keep people on over the winter, they have to pay wages, they have to keep their properties maintained and the income streams are reduced dramatically. The marketing budget for the South Australian Tourism Commission is an enormous and highly responsible issue, and this government needs to get serious about poking a lot more money into it.

If one looks at what is going on in the metropolitan area during winter, after the so-called 'mad March', one will see that things are starting to drop off pretty quickly. Apart from a game of AFL football on the weekend and two or three other things that are happening based around the arts, quite frankly, there are not a lot of activities of any great tank for the general public to participate in with respect to tourism.

I again stress that the marketing side is critical. It does not much matter whether one goes to the West Coast—Sceale Bay, Port Lincoln or any of those places—the Nullarbor to look at the whales, the Limestone Coast, the Riverland, the Fleurieu Peninsula, Kangaroo Island or the Barossa: these areas need pushing like they have never been pushed before. They need pushing enormously hard. Just recently, some limited programs have been advertised on television for which I am most grateful.

I think that the CEO of the commission, Mr Andrew McEvoy, realises the importance of this. So, I hope that he has been able to push his minister into fighting for the tourism industry in South Australia to gain more money in this budget, instead of the regular cuts it has had. We have some unique attractions in South Australia that are there all year round and we need to have visitation increased all year round. Yesterday afternoon, when I attended the function at the Adelaide Zoo, I was pleased to hear Mr McEvoy, and also the minister, having a few words to say about it.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: In the Zoo?

Mr PENGILLY: Yes, at the Zoo. So, I think the message is finally getting through. However, when it reaches the razor gang in the cabinet, I do not know whether the minister can do any good there. She managed to roll the Treasurer on the permanent grandstand, so whether she can push him into a corner with respect to an increase in the marketing budget for tourism will be most interesting to see. The world does not revolve around the centre of Adelaide, and neither does the tourism industry. It has to be more widespread and we have to encourage people to visit South Australia in greater numbers—whether it be by driving, flying, or whatever. To achieve that, we have to market the job. I sincerely hope that, when the state budget is handed down in a few weeks' time, there will be good news with respect to that section of the budget.

Time expired.

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