House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-03-07 Daily Xml

Contents

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BRAND

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (14:56): My question is to the Premier. Is there a new slogan to go with the branding of the state, and what logo and/or slogan will be on new car numberplates?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:56): Well, I can tell you it won't be 'Going all the way', and I can tell you that for sure. In fact, the—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It is actually a good question, because the whole question of a logo was considered as part of this exercise. The reality is logos do quickly date. Just to take you through the chain of reasoning that was used by the people who actually came up with this—and I think it is a very clever chain of reasoning: in the past, what was often put against South Australia is that it just morphed into Australia, so people would say, 'Where in southern Australia?'

The idea of a separate identity for South Australia was actually one of our key challenges. 'SA' of course often morphs into South Africa and all of the other places that can be abbreviated as 'SA', so the question of actually trying to identify this state was very much about locating our place in the world. Instead of seeing Australia as a disadvantage—in being found as part of that—if you looked at our geographical position, it actually presented an opportunity, and that opportunity was to be the hub, the gateway. I think the doorway motif is a very clever way of actually communicating that we should be the entry point into this nation.

So, I think that is the sense in which we are trying to communicate a value. Instead of actually trying to land on one thing, like the Wine State, or the Festival State, as have traditionally been some of the other naming propositions—

The SPEAKER: The Defence State.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Or the Defence State. Every time you—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Every time you do that, you actually exclude, and I think the wonderful thing about this particular motif is that it does not exclude, it includes. In fact, you can read just about anything you like into it. The notion—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It is actually a very welcoming proposition, and I think that motif of openness is something which is a quintessentially South Australian proposition. I am very proud of the fact that we are open: open to people who come here, and, in fact, also open to people to leave and then come back. So, it is a two-way door; it is one that opens to the world and also comes back. I think you can make a lot of it. Essentially, it is something that should be recognised almost automatically by people when they are actually seeing this overseas, and immediately they can work out our place in the world, and something about an invitation to come here.