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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-05 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

McLAREN VALE ACCOMMODATION

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:23): I refer to the question I asked the Minister for Tourism earlier in relation to her comments about accommodation in McLaren Vale. She denied in this house that she made those comments—obviously not aware of the consequences of misleading the house. I have five statutory declarations which have been signed by members of the community, members of the McLaren Vale tourism industry and constituents of the member for Mawson—who wrote a letter to the member for Mawson. As far as I know—certainly late last week—they have not heard from the member for Mawson in response to their concerns in relation to comments by the Minister for Tourism in December about the establishments in McLaren Vale.

These tourism operators are furious and angry. They have not written these statutory declarations flippantly. Unlike the minister, they are aware that they are responsible for what they say. They know the ramifications of false statutory declarations. They were at the function and they heard what the minister said, and they have repeated in the statutory declarations what the minister said. This is a serious issue. The tourism minister told ABC Radio that she did not say these things. The exact words were:

But, of course, there is no way that I would ever say anything of the sort of any particular development or business.

Five constituents of the member for Mawson who were present at the function have signed statutory declarations saying that she did say those things. She told parliament today that she did not say it.

Her credibility is lacking extraordinarily, because she has form in insulting regional tourism areas in South Australia. In an article in the Border Watch tourism operators in Mount Gambier are calling for the minister to go after she described Mount Gambier as having 'nothing else but a blue lake'. It is interesting that our number one spruiker for tourism in South Australia, the tourism minister, feels that there is nothing to see at Mount Gambier other than a blue lake. Perhaps she does not understand that the finishing point of the Great Ocean Road, for example, one of the premier tourist destinations, is Mount Gambier—

Mr Bignell interjecting:

Mr PISONI: And the member for Mount Gambier is saying that that it is not relevant.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Mr PISONI: It is extraordinary. No wonder he is going.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I remind the member for Unley that he has been warned. The member for Unley.

Mr PISONI: I beg your pardon? I have been warned? I am speaking. You are warned when you are speaking? For heaven's sake!

The Hon. R.J. McEwen interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, the Minister for Agriculture has also been warned. The member for Unley.

Mr PISONI: So, the member for Mount Gambier is not interested in tourism in Mount Gambier, just like the tourism minister is not interested in tourism in Mount Gambier. She is not interested in McLaren Vale. After I received these letters from the McLaren Vale operators in December, I went there the following Sunday morning, where we had a meeting of McLaren Vale operators at the motel in McLaren Vale. They were so upset that they wanted to meet with somebody as soon as possible. Mr Mark Vandeleur from the McLaren Vale Apartments wrote to me on 18 December, and he also wrote to the minister and the member for Mawson—

Mr Bignell interjecting:

Mr PISONI: Well, I consider a Cc a letter, member for Mawson. You might not, but I take notice of everything that comes into my electorate office. I am sorry you do not, but you run your office the way you want to run it, and I am sure the voters of Mawson will judge you on that on 20 March next year. The extraordinary thing about this is the outrage from those tourism operators. They are the ones who built tourism in McLaren Vale. They have been there for decades. They built McLaren Vale. They are the ones who built tourism in McLaren Vale.

Mr Bignell interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Mr PISONI: They are the backs that new developments are crawling over to get into McLaren Vale. They are the ones who built the industry from scratch, and the minister goes down there and says that they are substandard. It is absolutely outrageous! I admit that it is not the Ritz, that it is not the French Riviera. What the minister said is outrageous.

Time expired.

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