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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-06-13 Daily Xml
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TOURISM

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (15:24): The state government wants the ailing South Australian tourism industry to contribute $8 billion to the economy by 2020. Part of this is the desire to boost cruise ship arrivals from 21 to 25 next year, bringing 55,000 passengers into Port Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Kangaroo Island and, for the first time, Robe and the Limestone Coast. But what support is the government providing to assist the tourism industry grow and contribute such a substantial amount to the state's economy? Not much. At the same time they are asking for more from the industry, they are still cutting their resources.

In March, the government sacked the CEO of the South Australian Tourism Commission, Mr Ian Darbyshire, in favour of a restructure and replacing him with a part-time CEO—a downgrade. I want to put on the public record my support for Mr Darbyshire and the wonderful work he was doing. He did a good job. It was the government decisions that made it very difficult for him.

The Tourism Commission's visitor information centre was moved from a highly visible disability-friendly location in King William Street that we could all see from everywhere to an out-of-the-way basement in Grenfell Street. Regions have also been stripped of their hard-working and knowledgeable tourism managers in favour of a more centralised structure.

I pay tribute to Mr Barry Salter, our previous tourism officer in the Barossa—a fantastic guy. He was the person who brought us Barossa Under The Stars. Remember that? And what did we do? We replaced him because we could not afford to pay him and put two people in his place at more money, and the record speaks for itself—down we go. I cannot believe the decision-making capacity. He was a great guy, old Bazza, totally committed and we miss him. We see him around.

The South Australian Travel Centre will undergo a transfer in management next year to a commercial operator to save $700,000. I wonder what will happen to the staff who have the expertise? I understand that many are in limbo, not knowing whether or not they will be retained by the private operator.

This new structure in tourism has also meant that instead of the regional visitor guides being produced in the regions by the local tourism bodies, they are being produced by the SATC, with control being centralised in Adelaide. Do you believe that? In the case of the Barossa, this has led to the latest guide being printed with some errors and inaccuracies, particularly in reference to the Lyndoch area. Out-of-date information was included, as was a reference to accommodation that was no longer in operation.

I am not criticising the manager of tourism for the Barossa region at all for the mistakes included in the guide; he came on board when the process was already nearing completion. However, we are seeing time and time again that this Labor government wants to control and centralise everything, and the end result is that mistakes are being made. We have seen it occur with the failed Shared Services initiative and we have seen it occur with health when health advisory councils replaced local hospital boards. The same is now occurring in tourism.

It is not good enough that one of the state's premier tourism regions has a guide for tourists containing inaccuracies. This is the first year that the SATC has had full control of the production of the Barossa Visitor Guide. This has demonstrated that, when the people putting the guide together have no local knowledge or expertise, errors slip through. The Barossa has a reputation as a top tourism destination in Australia, and we are professional. It is a pity that this has let the side down.

Just yesterday it was revealed that in the past year international visitors to South Australia have dropped by 10 per cent, to the lowest level in five years. That means that in the year to March, 36,000 fewer people came here from overseas than the year before. The largest drops were in Adelaide and Kangaroo Island, but Barossa Valley, Flinders Ranges, the outback and Fleurieu were also affected.

The Barossa has fallen from the second most visited wine region in Australia to now the 10th. Other states are cleaning us up, and what are we doing about it? Nothing. We have very poor expertise. The Tourism Industry Council's Ward Tilbrook said yesterday on radio that cuts have not helped. I quote:

Savings that have taken place within the Tourism Commission have taken place in the destination development and tourism development area, that is, our infrastructure, development, access, research...Tourism Commission has had to face budget cuts at the same time that they are asking industry to do more, so we just have to be cognisant of the fact that tourism is a multiplier effecter for our state; it does generate revenue for us.

When is this Labor government going to learn? It continually strips departments and funding to sectors that generate revenue for us, not only tourism. The same can be said for agriculture. It is a disgrace.

Time expired.

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