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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-05-16 Daily Xml
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Port Adelaide Football Club, China Strategy

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright) (14:39): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier outline the benefits of Port Adelaide's China engagement strategy for South Australia, and is he aware of any alternative approaches?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:40): I thank the honourable member for her question. It was a privilege to be in Shanghai to witness history on Sunday. Port Adelaide played the first AFL match for premiership points outside of Australasia—the first major sports league anywhere in the world, in fact, to play for premiership points on Chinese soil. So, NBA, NRL, you name it—nobody has been able to break into the Chinese market.

From Queen Street, Alberton, to Shanghai, it's an extraordinary achievement. One we observed and I pinched because I thought it was funny, the furthest that the Port Adelaide Football Club had travelled pre-1997 was probably Elizabeth. So, it's an extraordinary achievement to be all the way over there in Shanghai. Port Adelaide, of course, returned with much more than four premiership points. The club picked up a host of new sponsors and laid the groundwork for a long-term commitment in China.

I should also note that the seeds for this were sown in my office by Andrew Hunter when he designed our sports diplomacy strategy. Sadly for me, he was pinched by the Port Adelaide Football Club and has gone from strength to strength. He has been really an architect of their strategy. Securing extraordinary sponsorships, managing to persuade Mr Koch to really take on an extraordinary ambition to break into China, and persuading the AFL to come with him was an extraordinary risk but a massive return for not only the AFL but also the Port Adelaide Football Club.

What it has done is put South Australia's brand front and centre. This was the largest television audience of an AFL match in the history of the sport. What they were looking at was a ground festooned with images of South Australia: on the ground, our brand, and 'Study in Adelaide, invest in Adelaide', around the course of the ground. It is very hard to break into the international marketplace, and with this one event we have achieved an extraordinary amount.

It is not everyone who thinks this is a good idea. I note the member for Chaffey has decided to advance his own observations about this event, talking down the prospect of the Port Adelaide Football Club going to China—

Mr Whetstone: Read the Hansard, Jay.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I did read the Hansard. I read the Leader of the Opposition's mealy-mouthed defence. When he was asked about it, the Leader of the Opposition said, 'He's only asking questions.' Well, just have the courage to come out and say you think it's a bad idea, rather than just say, 'He's only asking questions.'

Mr Marshall: He didn't say that. You're embarrassing yourself again. He didn't even say that.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: No, that's what you said in defending him: 'only asking questions'.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point of order, sir: the Premier's comments have nothing to do with the question he was asked.

The SPEAKER: The Premier is provoking the opposition. I will listen carefully to his remarks and hope they join up with the question.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The alternative approach to international engagement is that laid out by the Leader of the Opposition, where he is going to return to bricks and mortar trade offices. The Hartley review looked into this and said that the better approach was to embed our offices with Austrade, getting more bang for the buck, and we are getting the results on the board.

In 2015-16, the value of exports was up by 4 per cent; export volumes were up by 11.3 per cent; wine, fruit and vegetables, seafood, education services and tourism were up. The 200 or so South Australian businesses there value these trade missions. Rather than being talked down by the Leader of the Opposition as junkets, they value the support we give them and they achieve extraordinary things for themselves and for the South Australian people.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned for the second and final time, and the member for Chaffey is warned. Deputy leader.

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