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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-03-18 Daily Xml
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Major Events Bid Fund

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (14:53): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Minister, how much money remains in the total $6 million Major Events Bid Fund over four years?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (14:53): I thank the member for the question. I'll have to come back with how much money is left in there because it is something that changes month to month as we attract new events. We have Liverpool coming here on 20 July, of course, which is terrific. Next year we have won the rights to host the national swimming championships which also doubles as the Olympic trials for Rio. We have many events that we have gone out and used money out of that bid fund—because that's what it is there for—to attract those events to South Australia and we'll continue to do that. What the balance is at the moment is a bit of a moveable feast because we are always out there looking for new events. I encourage everyone to come to us if you have good ideas about events that you would like to have.

An honourable member: The Asian Cup.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: The Asian Cup would be fantastic, yes. We are going after all sorts of events. We have the best stadium.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Yes, not so good that one. There are a few hidden costs behind it. It looks alright on paper, but when you work out you might have to stump up a million bucks for it it's not so attractive.

Mr Gardner: What about the KI Surfing Classic?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: That wasn't such a good one, no, so we will reject that one, but happy to talk to everyone. The member for Mount Gambier and I have been talking about a few things that we can do down in the South-East maybe. We need to look at having these major events not just in the city, although we've got great facilities here to have that. It would be great to have some more out in the regions, so anyone who has any good ideas please come and see us about that. We do have a pool of money, it was an election commitment and it will help us to lure more and more tourists to South Australia.

If we just have look at the past three months, Adelaide Airport has had its busiest first quarter, they think, on record, as we had $165 million come into the economy through the Tour Down Under, through the Clipsal, through the Fringe, through the Festival, through WOMADelaide and, of course, the World Cup Cricket—the World Cup Cricket just on its own brought $31 million into the economy. The events business is big business, and we are out there every day scouring the lists of events that we can bring—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Because they don't actually help.

Mr Marshall: The tourism board doesn't help?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: No, they don't help in this.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is warned for the first time.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: This bid fund that came up to attract all these bids wasn't an idea from the Tourism Commission Board; it was actually a government initiative that we went after.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Sorry?

Mr Marshall: It already existed with Australian Major Events before you guys got in.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Yes, but the money coming into that fund helps us to go after and be a little bit more nimble in getting some of the events that we need to get. If you look at the current system, you would have to go back to the Tourism Commission Board, have a meeting with them and get a budget bid up to go for it. What we have now with that pool of money is the ability to be able to have the money on the table straightaway so, if someone outbids you, you can increase the money.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Well, the surf classic was way before this bid fund was put into place, so you are talking about something that pre-dated my time in the job.

Mr Marshall: Whose fault was it then?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: It doesn't matter whose fault it was. We are here to talk about—

The SPEAKER: The minister will not respond to interjections.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. We are talking about going after events that will benefit the state, and the $6 million bid fund certainly helps us do that.

Mr WHETSTONE: Supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: Supplementary, member for Chaffey.

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