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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-05-19 Daily Xml
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ADELAIDE FESTIVAL OF IDEAS

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (15:02): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier update the house on the 2011 Adelaide Festival of Ideas?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (15:02): They don't like ideas, do they? Even the word makes them squirm—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Norwood, you are warned for the third time.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —which surprises me, because the Adelaide Festival of Ideas was founded in 1999, during the time of the previous Liberal government, so why would you all be booing and sneering and carrying on? It has very quickly established itself as an important biennial event on our cultural calendar. The Festival of Ideas celebrates innovation, creativity and intellectual pursuits—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —as central to our values and identity here in South Australia. Adelaide's Festival of Ideas was the first in the nation and has been followed by others both around Australia and in other parts of the world. Attendances at Adelaide's Festival of Ideas have grown to over 35,000—you don't see many Liberals there, but never mind—and its success has attracted significant public support and national media attention.

In essence, the Adelaide Festival of Ideas gives big ideas and contemporary debates space for exploration. It is an event where innovative thinking and sharing of ideas is encouraged, and the public can engage with some of the world's most highly recognised thinkers across a wide range of topics. Speakers include international, national and local guests who are all experts in their fields.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I can see it is angering, even though it occurred in their time, and they funded it, but, clearly, Diana Laidlaw was alone. I have this vision that the day she walked into the cabinet and said, 'I've got the next Festival director for you. His name is Peter Sellars,' and I reckon, around the room, they were all saying, 'We used to see him in the Pink Panther movies.'

I am pleased to inform the house that this year's Festival of Ideas will include an expanded footprint, which will extend beyond the traditional program of lectures and debates in North Terrace institutions to incorporate a second stream of programming based in and around the Adelaide Town Hall and the RiAus at the old Stock Exchange building. The festival's traditional winter dates will also shift, with 2011 events set to take place in the spring, from Friday 7 October to Sunday 9 October. The expanded program will include initiatives that will be less formal in nature and provide more interactive opportunities to explore ideas.

Some of the new offerings will include focus groups, speaker's corners, question and answer sessions, a mini-documentary screening program, live web streaming from festival events and pitching sessions involving presentations of innovative new ideas to key industry figures. This year will also mark the first Festival of Unpopular Culture—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —yes—an event that will run alongside the Adelaide Festival of Ideas. This new alternative festival will be held in venues across the West End of the city and will cater to young and emerging artists as well as creative thinkers. It will provide opportunities for panel discussions, artistic presentations and festivities around topics such as pop music, sport, spirituality, the environment, youth and politics.

Each year's Festival of Ideas has a theme. This year's theme will be 'planning for uncertainty'—sounds like a job for Liberal leaders of the opposition. The program will focus on a twist in what has been termed the 'two cultures debate', meaning that it will focus, not on the division between the arts and the sciences, but rather between those who are comfortable with doubt, probability and possibility and those who demand the promise of certainty.

Along with Adelaide's famous literary festival, Writers' Week—which will be annual from 2012—and the Adelaide Thinkers in Residence program, our Festival of Ideas brings great minds to Adelaide from around the world to challenge us with new ideas and insights and to engage us in public debate. It is part of the intellectual enrichment that is such an important part of South Australia's cultural life.

I know that a number of organisations are involved. The Don Dunstan Foundation, the Hawke Centre, the Australian Centre for Social Innovation, the Integrated Design Commission, the Centre for Muslim and Non-Muslim Understanding, the Goyder Institute, the RiAus and the Australian Science Media Centre are all examples of a government that invests in ideas. I am pleased that a number of these organisations will be taking part.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: You think the Goyder Institute for water is a waste of an idea; that is very interesting.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There is too much background noise.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: The first round of speakers for 2011 includes behavioural economist and bestselling author Paul Ormerod who, of course, is a Vladimir Nabokov expert—

Ms Fox: Is he?

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —yes—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —and also literature revolution specialist, distinguished Professor Brian Boyd and human rights lawyer, Professor Sarah Joseph. It is interesting. The Leader of the Opposition has just declared that Di Laidlaw and the former government's Festival of Ideas is a waste of money; that is the difference.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Far too much background noise. Member for Goyder.

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