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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-10-16 Daily Xml
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World Routes Aviation Conference

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay) (12:32): I move:

That this house—

(a) notes thousands of delegates from the aviation industry are in Adelaide as part of the World Routes 2019 conference;

(b) congratulates the previous Labor government on pursuing this opportunity;

(c) notes the importance of the international and interstate visitors to our economy; and

(d) calls on the government to commit further funding towards direct flight access and the tourism marketing activity.

I rise today to support this motion, which is about World Routes and support of South Australia's visitor economy. World Routes is a major airline industry conference that attracts thousands of representatives from airlines, airports and tourism authorities to discuss new air services. It is a global meeting place for them to come together.

In 2016, the Weatherill Labor government made a successful bid for Adelaide to host the first World Routes conference in Australia for 2019. It was a tremendous achievement to attract such a major event to our state, and I would like to acknowledge the former minister for tourism, the member for Mawson, for being a key contributor to making this happen here in Adelaide.

More than 2,000 delegates from 130 different countries came to Adelaide between 21 and 24 September, and I was delighted that, through the support of Adelaide Airport and the South Australian Tourism Commission, I had the opportunity to do a walk-through of the event at the Adelaide Showground. The reason it had to be at the Showground was that it was so big that the Adelaide Convention Centre could not host that space.

It was quite an interesting walk-through, and I have to say that the marketing and the displays were very impressive. Most important to me, I guess, was to see the very strict time lines of the nearly 2,000 delegates. They had clocks absolutely everywhere, and every 15 minutes they would change to a new meeting. It was an interesting and very efficient way of having those meetings.

A number of airlines were represented at this event, and it was incredibly impressive. It was a who's who of the airline industry. The delegates were offered complimentary tours of South Australia and when I met with them at the gala dinner many talked to me about the opportunity to go to McLaren Vale and the Barossa. Some had had the opportunity to go to Monarto zoo and to the Adelaide Oval RoofClimb as well. Unfortunately, as the weather was a bit rough, they could not go out on the KI ferry.

The most important thing about this event is that it not only generated work locally but our local businesses got exposure to global brands. I particularly want to pay attention to the company that was responsible for running the event, for setting up the event—Informa Markets. Informa Markets is a multibillion dollar company with around 150 offices around the world. It organises more than 550 events across a wide range of industries in many different countries.

To have them come and do World Routes in Adelaide exposes them to what we can do in this business convention environment. When we made the successful bid in 2016, we knew that this would be of great benefit and attract global attention to Adelaide, and it certainly did that. Of course, this comes at a time when South Australia could use an extra boost in its international visitor numbers.

International tourists to South Australia are taking shorter trips and spending less money. We know that Tourism Research Australia data has just come out and shows there has been an 11 per cent decline in international visitor nights and a 5 per cent decline in visitor spend. This comes on top of very disappointing news: growth projections from Tourism Research Australia predict a 1.6 per cent decline in international visitor nights to South Australia in 2020-21.

Having World Routes here, having the global aviation spotlight on Adelaide, this was a time for the government of the day to make an announcement to the world's leading aviation companies. In fact, in a doorstop interview in January this year, Premier Steven Marshall told the media that it would be wonderful to have something to announce at the World Routes conference, yet in the end, last month, there was nothing. It is embarrassing that this Marshall Liberal government had no announcement to make to the world's largest aviation conference. This government has not placed any priority on direct flight attraction to Adelaide. In fact, during their time we have seen both Emirates and Singapore Airlines close their offices in Adelaide.

We know that the significant cuts to tourism funding are having an impact: the first budget saw an $11 million cut and the second budget saw $12 million in efficiencies over four years—that is $23 million cut from tourism over five years. We know that this has impacted our international marketing. The Marshall Liberal government has wasted a once in a lifetime opportunity to sell South Australia to the world. It is no wonder that the tourism industry has lost confidence in this government.

We all know in this house and in the industry that international flight attraction is a complex matter. There is no silver bullet, but when you cut funding to tourism marketing it sends a negative signal to aviation companies. It is an incredibly competitive space. They are making decisions all the time about their ongoing operations in South Australia, Australia and around the world.

A better signal would have been to announce expanded funding for international marketing, but this opportunity was lost. It would be asking too much of this government. The government is short-sighted and does not see the value in turbocharging tourism in South Australia. So far, the most notable campaign that this government has come up with is 'old mate'. The Marshall Liberal government needs to recognise that more tourism will create more jobs. At an unemployment rate of 7.3 per cent, tourism should be the answer but, no, it is a cut to the budget.

I want this government to focus on helping to get new direct flights to Adelaide. We know that we have a great offering from Adelaide Airport. The Airport recently released its latest master plan. The master plan forecasts indicate passenger numbers will jump to $19.8 million by 2039—that includes 3.3 million international travellers—while airfreight will almost triple, from 58,500 tonnes to 146,000 tonnes.

Since 2014, passenger numbers have increased by one million to 8.5 million in 2018, while the Airport's contribution to gross state product has been boosted by more than $1 billion Australian to $2.98 billion, representing 3.1 per cent of the state's economic growth. These are impressive figures not just because they are bringing in money to our economy but also because they create jobs. By 2039, Adelaide Airport would like to be a hub of employment activity for around 56,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Direct flights not only are a critical part of the visitor economy but they make the world more accessible to all South Australians. This will only be possible if this government plays its part by making sure it provides the marketing, the sector support, to get these new flights. It is a job that continues to be more and more difficult, with cuts in subsequent budgets. I dread to think about what we are going to hear in the next budget: more savings, more cuts. What that really means is jobs. It makes a fantastic economic contribution. Cuts are unnecessary and a backward step for our economy.

While we were at this fantastic international World Routes conference, we saw that Adelaide is on the global aviation map. All we have to talk about here are cuts and, unfortunately, we missed out on what was a fantastic opportunity for us to put Adelaide out there for direct flights for more South Australians and for more international tourists to come to South Australia.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (12:42): I rise to contribute to this motion. I would like to amend the motion. I move:

Delete paragraphs (b) and (d) and substitute in lieu:

(b) acknowledges the efforts of Tourism Australia and Adelaide Airport Ltd in joining the previous government in securing the World Routes 2019 conference; and

(d) acknowledges the government's ongoing work in the attraction of new flight routes to South Australia.

South Australia's pitch for the World Routes 2019 conference was a joint initiative in 2015 by the South Australian Tourism Commission, Tourism Australia and Adelaide Airport Ltd. In October 2016, it was announced that Adelaide would host the World Routes 2019 conference, the first time this event has been held in Australasia and only the second time it has been held in the Southern Hemisphere. Major cities such as Las Vegas, London, Rome, Barcelona, Vancouver, Beijing and Guangzhou have previously hosted the conference.

World Routes aims to provide a forum for airlines and airports to meet and negotiate aircraft routes across the world. There were approximately 180 airlines and 300 airports in attendance, with roughly 10,000 meetings, with delegates from both individual city airports and administrative suppliers within the industry. A number of meetings were conducted between aviation partners of Adelaide in the 23,000 square metres of space of the exhibition and the meeting halls. World Routes brought focus to Adelaide and South Australia, as delegates to the conference were also given the opportunity to experience some of South Australia's best tourism operators and experiences.

Some of those included tours of the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale wine regions; a tour of the Adelaide Hills to explore the wine, craft beer and distillery scene of that region; and nature and wildlife visits to Kangaroo Island, the Monarto zoo, the Adelaide Zoo, Waterfall Gully and Mount Lofty Summit. The Adelaide city experiences include the Segway tour of the Riverbank Precinct, the RoofClimb Adelaide Oval and the World Routes golf day at the Blackwood Golf Club.

Those visiting Adelaide for the first time were effusive in their praise for both the event and for Adelaide as a city and the regions that it is surrounded by. The owners of World Routes, Informa, also expressed their gratitude and pleasure that Adelaide had delivered one of the best World Routes in its 25 years. As at 30 September 2019, South Australia sees 49 international flights per week from nine airlines coming into this great state.

Just on reflection, the shadow spokesperson talks about cuts and the negativity of tourism. What I can say is that last Thursday, as acting tourism minister, I referred to South Australian stats: the tourism visitor economy had hit an all-time record of $7.6 billion. For every tourism dollar spent here in South Australia—this is one of the shining lights for me—44¢ of that dollar was spent in regional South Australia. That just speaks of the paramount importance of tourism to our economy but also the paramount importance of what regional South Australia is giving our visitation economy coming into this great state. On that, I commend the amended motion.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (12:46): I rise to support the original motion. It is interesting that we have a minister come in here trying to erase the Labor government's role in doing so much for the tourism industry, the visitor economy. I note that we set an $8 billion target for the visitor economy in South Australia to be reached by next year, and we have set that on a trajectory, and it is great to see the advancements. But, as the money runs out from this new government, unfortunately we are going to see a reversal of our fortunes in the visitor economy. People in the industry know that, and they are very worried about what the Liberal government over the past 18 months has been doing to their wonderful industry.

As the minister points out, 44¢ in every dollar is spent in regional South Australia. That is why it is so important that we get new airlines. The minister outlined the airlines that we have coming in here. Well, in the final five years of our term in government we attracted Emirates here, we attracted Qatar here and also China Southern. Those things did not come about easily. We had to go out and fight for those. We got Air New Zealand to put a Dreamliner on the service between Adelaide and Auckland, and we saw increased flights from Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. We worked hard day in, day out.

The tourism industry is telling me that they are just not getting that same work ethic out of the Liberal government, who want to sit there and ride on the coat-tails of the success they are enjoying, which was the impetus of the work we did as a government. To try to erase our role in the visitor economy is churlish and it is childish. People in the visitor economy know they have a dud minister running the portfolio now, and they lament the fact that they no longer have the Labor Party in office fighting for them.

They had Jay Weatherill in their corner, they had John Rau in their corner, they had Martin Hamilton-Smith in their corner, they had the treasurer of the day, Tom Koutsantonis, in their corner, and I was in there as the tourism minister. We fought as a cabinet to get more and more money into the tourism sector. All we have seen since the Liberals have been elected are cuts. Not to have been able to get another announcement, another player into the international aviation scene in and out of Adelaide, is an absolute, abject failure on behalf of the Liberal government.

I congratulate the member for Ramsay on bringing this motion to the house. I fully support it, and I really implore the Liberal government to start doing the sort of work we did when we were in government. It did not come about by accident that we got World Routes here in Adelaide—the first time it has ever been held in the Southern Hemisphere. This was part of a multiminister attack from the Premier down—and we did everything. We pulled out all stops.

I also want to thank Adelaide Airport, which did a great job, and Rodney Harrex, the CEO of the South Australian Tourism Commission, and his very capable and hardworking manager of international development, Nick Jones. Nick had a really important role and went to routes conference after routes conference around the world, not only to get flights into South Australia but also to make sure that we pushed Adelaide's case for hosting World Routes 2019.

I would also like to pay tribute to John O'Sullivan, the former head of Tourism Australia, because without Tourism Australia's backing we probably would have struggled to get all the money to do it, and it was a great partnership. Again, the South Australian Tourism Commission, while we were in government, worked hard with the national body, Tourism Australia, to do that. I also thank Damien Kitto and Jim Kouts at the Adelaide Convention Bureau for all their hard work in making sure that this was a success that was part of a very big team effort headed up by the former premier of the state, Jay Weatherill, all of cabinet and all the heavy hitters within the visitor economy in South Australia.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (12:50): I would like to support the amended motion that was put by the Minister for Primary Industries. I just wish sometimes that people would concentrate a bit more on what happens in here. The member for Mawson indicated that we were churlish and childish in not acknowledging what the previous government had done, when the amendment that we want to insert actually reads:

(b) acknowledges the efforts of Tourism Australia and Adelaide Airport Ltd in joining the previous government in securing the World Routes 2019 Conference; and

(d) acknowledges the government's ongoing work in the attraction of new flight routes to South Australia.

It is interesting that when we try to give a little bit of bipartisanship in this place we still get sledged. But then I guess we just have to concentrate on what is on the agenda.

The World Routes conference, which was attracted to Adelaide, had thousands of attendees. It is a great conference to have in this state. As we have heard, people travelled all over the state when attending this event, and this conference is to be commended for attracting routes and people into South Australia so that we can get our tourism industry going harder and have more people coming to this great place. People do not realise how good an opportunity they have here in South Australia until either they get here themselves or we have people who promote routes coming here and spreading the news when they get back home.

This conference had been announced back in 2016. As has been indicated, it is the first time that it has been held in the Southern Hemisphere. Las Vegas, London, Rome, Barcelona, Vancouver, Beijing and Guangzhou have previously hosted the conference. It is all about providing a forum for airlines and airports to meet and negotiate aircraft routes across the world. It was heavily attended by approximately 180 airlines and 300 airports. We had delegates from individual city airports and administrative suppliers within the industry, and a number of meetings were conducted between aviation partners of Adelaide in the 23,000 square metres of space in the exhibition and meeting halls.

As I indicated, World Routes brought a focus to Adelaide and South Australia as a whole, as delegates to the conference were also given the opportunity to experience some of South Australia's best tourism operators and experiences. These included tours of the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale regions, and the Adelaide Hills. Throughout these regions, we have great wine, craft beer and distilleries. They also included nature and wildlife visits to Kangaroo Island.

We obviously have our two zoos—Monarto zoo, in my electorate, and Adelaide Zoo. I must say, it is great to see the investment going into Monarto zoo. We have close to $5 million of state money and a bit over $10 million of federal money, along with the head of Jayco, Gerry Ryan, putting in something like $40 million for glamping and caravan park accommodation. That will be a real boon to the area, just to complement other visitor experiences, whether it be giving people the opportunity to explore the great breadth of our river but also to attend race meetings at the racetrack of Murray Bridge Racing Club, which is having its Gold Cup on Friday, or to attend the greyhounds or other events that happen continuously at the motorsport park at Tailem Bend.

We note that people also had the opportunity to visit places like Waterfall Gully and Mount Lofty Summit. Obviously, we have had people who have visited the Riverbank Precinct in Adelaide and have gone to the Adelaide Oval to do the Adelaide Oval RoofClimb, and there was a golf day held at the Blackwood Golf Club.

As has been indicated already in this place, people were full of praise for Adelaide, and not just for the event but for Adelaide as a city. I can say as a country person that Adelaide is one of the easier cities to get around. I am never fully in love with city dwelling when I have to be here for work, but it is what it is and it is an easy city to get around. I think the most comparable city I can put it to in this country is Perth. Once you get to cities of a population of six, seven or eight million, it becomes a bit hectic.

It is noted that the owners of World Routes also expressed their gratitude and pleasure that Adelaide had delivered one of the best World Routes in its 25 years. As at the end of September this year, South Australia sees 49 international flights per week from nine airlines—Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, China Southern, Emirates, Jetstar, Malaysia Airlines, Malindo Air, Qatar and Singapore Airlines.

Since April 2019, Malindo Air has commenced four flights per week between Adelaide and Kuala Lumpur via Bali and, in April 2019, when season flight schedules were published, 47 international flights per week operated to Adelaide, equating to 12,331 international seats. That was a 2 per cent increase on April 2018, so it is great to see that success. As has been indicated, this government has been working hard to attract new airlines from a range of international markets, including the United States. This is a strategy that takes time to make sure that people can see the opportunity and viability of these routes, and discussions are progressing.

It is noted that World Routes gave Adelaide exposure to key airline partners and demonstrated that Adelaide is capable of hosting large international business events. This city and this state have benefited from exposure to key airline partners, with a significant local spend from the delegates. It has demonstrated that Adelaide is capable of hosting large-scale international business events. The total estimated economic impact of hosting this event in Adelaide was over $20 million injected into the state economy, so it was a great event that injected millions into the economy and opened up this city and this state to the world.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay) (12:59): I rise in support of my original motion. I thank all those who contributed to the discussion of acknowledging the World Routes 2019 Conference. Obviously, I want to congratulate the previous Labor government on pursuing this opportunity. But I reiterate the disappointment that we did not have more to say when we were on the global stage, and I think this goes to the heart of what the tourism industry is being impacted by now—cuts and more cuts. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 14:00.

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