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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-10-14 Daily Xml
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The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright) (15:12): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. Minister, what is the state government doing to promote South Australian produce internationally?

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) (15:12): I thank the member for Wright for her question. Of course, one of the—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Hilarious.

Mr Knoll: Get on with it.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I will as soon as your leader stops laughing about a very serious industry for South Australia—one that's worth $19.4 billion to our economy. The agribusiness sector—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Don't give up your day jobs; you're not very good comedians. They are pathetic jokes. This sector is worth $19.4 billion a year to the South Australian economy. It employs one in five—

The Hon. J.M. Rankine interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is called to order.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —working South Australians, and of course is one of our key economic priorities. We do a lot to promote food and wine here in South Australia and also overseas. Tasting Australia, the very first food festival that was established in Australia and copied by many since then, is going annual next year. Today, it was my great pleasure to announce that Cheong Liew, one of the most famous chefs in South Australia, has been named an ambassador for that event. I joined him down at the Hilton as he took six or seven food writers and food bloggers from around Australia around to a few of his favourite places in Adelaide to show off some of our great food and wine. Tomorrow, they will be heading down to McLaren Vale to Primo Estate to try some of the great Joseph's wine range down there, and they will be with Paul Henry, who is co-director with Simon Bryant of Tasting Australia.

Of course, Tasting Australia for the first time next year will become an annualised festival from 1 May to 8 May. It is going to be like the Adelaide Festival, the Fringe, WOMAD, those events that used to happen every two years. It will now be an annual event, which will make it stronger and better. Also this week there's a big Sustainable Seafood festival on in Hong Kong. We have been represented up there from today through until the end of this month. Of course, in 2014-15 we exported around 530 tonnes of seafood worth more than $33 million to China and Hong Kong, with abalone being our highest sought-after product value at $22.1 million.

The Australian Sustainable Seafood Month is a promotion in partnership with Austrade (Hong Kong) and the Dragon King Restaurant Group, which is run by world-renowned chef and premium food and wine ambassador Wong Wing Chee. The Sustainable Seaford Month will promote, educate and raise awareness of Australia's sustainable seafood in Hong Kong.

Closer to home, I must point out to the member for MacKillop and wish the organisers of the Coonawarra cab sav weekend, which starts tomorrow, all the very best for this year's festival. Last year the member for Mount Gambier and I had a couple of good Coonawarra cab savs on the Saturday afternoon, I think it was.

Mr Pengilly: I bet it was better than the Argentinean wine?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Much better than the Argentinean wine. But they are our competitor—you always want to know who you are up against. The Coonawarra wines are fantastic wines.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I will miss out this year, member for MacKillop, but, member for Stuart, I will be in your electorate. I will be up at Leigh Creek and then at the Roadkill Cafe at the Prairie Hotel on Saturday night trying some of the wonderful food up there as we look at tourism opportunities for the future of Leigh Creek.

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