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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-24 Daily Xml
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MIGRATION

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:18): My question is to the Treasurer. Why is your government letting interstate migration reach a 12-year high while taxpayers' money is being spent to sponsor a London speed-dating campaign? The state government will sponsor a speed-dating event in London next week and is running advertisements in the British tabloids and on websites throughout the UK to lure female British migrants to South Australia. Meanwhile, the ABS statistics released today confirmed that the government has not provided for the retention of local residents against the net interstate migration of 4,125 people in the 12 months to March 2008—the highest it has been since 1996.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (15:19): This lot would criticise anything. First, as I said yesterday, the government population projections under the substantial and sustained policy development of this government will see our population go from what was expected to be—certainly at the legacy of the last government—a peak of some 1.76 million, from memory, in about 2036, and then heading into decline, to a position, where, under this government's policy, we are seeing that increase reaching two million by 2022, from memory, and going up, and showing no incidence of decline.

The ABS is saying that by 2010, we will be seeing some 11,000 immigrants coming into this state and outflows stabilising at about 3,000. What are we to do—chain young people to their homes and not let them travel the world and seek employment out of this state?

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: In a modern globalised world economy, people do move interstate, they do move overseas and they do seek employment opportunities overseas. As much as it would pain me and my children's mother, if our children one day said, 'We want to work, live or travel overseas,' I think that would be a good thing. I do not think any parent—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I just fail to understand what—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The deputy leader will come to order.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: What motivates the member's interjections? What dripping malice comes from her! Nothing can be positive—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Trying to help me? I have said that the ABS itself has stated that the figure will stabilise at 3,000. Do you honestly suggest that no South Australian should leave this state to better themselves interstate or overseas? What a silly, stupid policy position that would be. That would see this state become the narrow, insular, parochial economy that it used to be when those opposite were in office.

This is a globalised world; it is a world where Australia's success is in trading internationally. If we have 11,000 people coming to settle in this state and we have 3,000 going out to see the world, the population is increasing, and that's a damn good outcome. It is a better outcome than when that lot over there were in office. As for the programs being undertaken by our new Agent-General in London, Bill Muirhead, they appear to be working.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: He knows a bit about advertising.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I will tell you how much he knows about advertising. Mr Bill Muirhead was one of the great appointments of any government on either side of politics in recent history. Bill Muirhead—a South Australian, by the way, who went overseas—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Fancy that! He went overseas and became the managing director of Saatchi and Saatchi, one of the world's great advertising companies.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: He got Thatcher elected.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Funny you should say that, because Mr Bill Muirhead—whom I have got to know very well, and who is a fine gentleman—was intimately involved in the election of Tory governments, of Margaret Thatcher. He got John Major up.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: Who else could?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Exactly; Bill Muirhead got John Major over the line—tragically, of course, it ended the great man Neil Kinnock's opportunity to be prime minister. Bill Muirhead was behind that. He was also behind the Qantas advertising campaigns, and British Airways, and is considered one of the great advertising icons of this world. Along with Maurice and Charles Saatchi he left Saatchi and Saatchi and set up M&C Saatchi, of which he is a part owner and partner—and that has become a truly great global advertising company.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: You asked the question. I'm having fun, I'm enjoying this; I have a lot more to come. Bill Muirhead said, 'I would like to give back to my state, because that is where I came from. I love South Australia,' and he is now working part time as our Agent-General. We have refurbished the office. I know the member for Morphett, Duncan McFetridge, was with Bill Muirhead. Isn't he a good bloke?

Dr McFetridge: Good ideas.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Good bloke, good ideas. Perhaps you could have a word with the deputy leader, because she does not think so. Bill Muirhead has had that office revamped, and he has a great young team of expatriate South Australians working there whom he has galvanised into a force of good for promoting our state. What he has asked us to do—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Bill told you about that; you thought it was a good idea.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Didn't he tell you about that? They have a shadow minister who thinks it is a good campaign.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: She's so arrogant. She knows better than Muirhead.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Exactly. I would back ahead of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition to promote this state someone who has not only run the great advertising companies of this world but who has also built one. I have no doubt that when she is in London and wants to make sure she is looked after, she will be knocking on the door of the Agent-General.

Of course, Bill Muirhead came up with the great ideas of 'Screw London house prices. Come to Adelaide', or 'Sod Staines. Come to Adelaide', which uses a particularly British expression that I don't quite get. I actually received a message from Bill Muirhead about this very thing—and this is breaking news. Bill Muirhead has said, as it relates to the speed-dating service, that he has achieved national press, BBC TV and radio and GM TV, all very positive advertising. For a minimal amount of money, with a novel idea he has got national BBC coverage all around the United Kingdom promoting South Australia.

You know what else Bill Muirhead did with that 'Sod Staines' and 'Stuff London buses and house prices'? I do not have the exact figures but, from memory, he said to me that we got about £1 million worth of free advertising for a cost of only a matter of a few tens of thousands of dollars, because that program went international—I think it went international. It was the subject of massive talkback, and it was in the newspapers and on TV. Bill Muirhead is an advertising genius, who is promoting our state in a way that we could never, ever afford. How about we get behind Bill Muirhead and say, 'Thank you very much for promoting our state and doing it so cheaply, so innovatively and so successfully.'

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