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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-07-05 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

Spurr, Mr W.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (13:45): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON: It is with great sadness that I rise in this chamber today to acknowledge the passing of a remarkable South Australian, William (Bill) Spurr AO. Mr Spurr, as many of you will know, is one of the most respected and admired public figures here in South Australia. His celebrated service to the South Australian tourism industry in particular is without equal. He was a pioneer who put South Australia on the map for interstate and international travellers while serving as South Australian Tourism Commission chief executive from 1998 to 2007, achieving record levels of visitation.

Being a very proud Blackwood High School student, he later went on to earn a Bachelor of Applied Science, a Bachelor of Economics and a Diploma of Teaching. Mr Spurr's illustrious career in the tourism and hospitality industry began when he was appointed executive director of the South Australian Hotels Association in 1981. He then went on to become head of the Tourism and Hospitality School at the Adelaide College of TAFE, a role he held until 1992.

Mr Spurr served as Adelaide Convention Bureau executive director for four years, from 1992. When South Australia lost the Grand Prix in 1995, the South Australian government turned to Mr Spurr to be its inaugural chief executive of Australian Major Events in order to attract and establish new events. Mr Spurr was incredibly passionate about the education sector. He was Chair of StudyAdelaide, formerly Education Adelaide, for more than 11 years, from 2006 to 2017, and again left an indelible footprint by way of establishing Adelaide as a preferred destination for international students.

Mr Spurr served on the Adelaide Venue Management Board for more than 20 years, including as the current chair, a position he held from 2015. He was also a valued member of the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust and Zoos South Australia boards. Mr Spurr was board director for the SeaLink Travel Group for 10 years, from 2007 to 2017; a Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee member, from 2014 to 2019; and an Adjunct Professor of Tourism at Flinders University. Mr Spurr was a Centenary Medal recipient in 2001 and appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2015. As stated, it has been a remarkable contribution and journey.

At just 75 years of age, William Spurr AO has gone far too early. He was a generous, warm and caring man and a mentor to many young professionals and leaders within our community. He leaves an extraordinary legacy. We say thank you to Mr Spurr for all his incredible contributions to our state. On behalf of the South Australian government, I express our condolences to his wife, Helen, his children, Debbie and Craig, and all his family. Vale.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan) (14:08): On indulgence, sir, I would like to commend the minister for her acknowledgement of the great contribution that Bill Spurr AO made to South Australia over such an extended period of time. On behalf of the opposition, I offer my condolences and our condolences to Helen and his family. It goes without saying that few South Australians have ever made such a significant contribution like that of Bill Spurr.

I first knew Bill back in the 1980s, when he was at the Australian Hotels Association, so I have known him for the better part of four decades. At every single meeting I had with him, he was a passionate South Australian. He believed in our future. He wanted to do everything he could to make this place a better place—and that is exactly and precisely what he has done.

The minister has very thoughtfully and thoroughly outlined his contributions in terms of the event sector, the education sector, the tourism sector, the hospitality sector. He really did have such an influence not just in senior roles but also in the way he nurtured the next generation. He touched so many people's lives. He enjoyed helping people. He enjoyed giving people a leg-up so that they could achieve their full ambition.

When I became the Premier back in 2018, I invited Bill to become a member of the Economic Advisory Council. This was a group of six people who met completely and utterly free of charge. Bill, I think, attended every single meeting of the Economic Advisory Council, as well as his chairmanship, of course, of the Adelaide Venue Management, his strong links to StudyAdelaide in various capacities and the Adelaide Zoo. The last time I saw Bill was a couple of weeks ago when we travelled to the official opening of the new visitor centre at Monarto—another one of those passion projects that Bill had for South Australia. He absolutely loved it.

He motivated all those around him. He was, of course, awarded a Centenary of Federation medal back in 2001, but I think that we were all absolutely delighted in 2015 when he was recognised in the Order of Australia with an AO, which of course is one of the highest accolades we can bestow on an Australian citizen. I think that every South Australian felt very proud about that. He was a fun person. He enjoyed a laugh. He loved the hospitality sector, and he loved getting out and enjoying the wonderful hospitality sector we have here in South Australia. He was a genuine person. He was a hardworking person. He was a person of the highest integrity possible.

It was a shock when we learned about his stroke. It was a massive shock for all South Australians waking up this morning to the news overnight that he had passed away. As I said, he was an incredible contributor. Our former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies said that there were two types of people in life: lifters and leaners. There is no doubt in my mind that, of course, Bill Spurr was a great lifter for our state and for our nation.

I pass on my sincere condolences on behalf of the opposition to Helen; his daughter, Deb; his son, Craig; and to all his family and friends as they deal with this very, very sad time.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:11): Also on indulgence and only very briefly because there have been very worthy statements made by both the Minister for Tourism and the member for Dunstan, on behalf of the opposition I also wanted to put on the public record our heartfelt thanks to Bill Spurr for his contribution to the business community here in South Australia and, more specifically, to the tourism industry development he led over the past several decades in this state.

I first met Bill Spurr around about 2008/2009 when I worked in the Cabinet Office in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet during which time he and Hieu Van Le—at the time the Lieutenant Governor here in South Australia—were involved in a task force to provide some assurance to South Australia's international student community following attacks on Indian students, which occurred not in South Australia but in Victoria and which had a knock-on very serious impact on the desirability for international students not only to visit but also to study in South Australia.

Bill's expertise was called upon because he knew the industry intimately. He knew the international connections very intimately as well, and he was able to provide firsthand experience to the Cabinet Office and to me in my role as an executive officer to that cabinet committee, which was seeking to provide stability and short-term input into how we could make sure that industry did not get knocked off its foundations in this state.

I kept in touch with Bill over the past decade and a half as I entered parliament and subsequently became a minister. My interactions with him in the environment portfolio were around an area he had substantial passion for, and that was nature-based tourism. It was an area of tourism development that we sought to take to the next level in this state, whether it be by finding opportunities for businesses to have sensitive interactions with our natural landscape—particularly national parks—or advanced projects, such as the one that the member for Dunstan referred to in relation to the Monarto Safari Park Visitor Centre.

He was passionate about growing the sector. He was passionate about creating new pathways for people to enter the tourism sector and to see the sector diversify, particularly in more recent times around the nature-based tourism side of the tourism industry. He will be greatly missed but, as the member for Dunstan and the Minister for Tourism have said, he is someone who leaves a tremendous legacy in regard to South Australia's economic development and, particularly, leaves behind a tourism industry so much more sophisticated, so much more developed than it otherwise would have been without his very careful, sensitive and detailed approach to developing the sector over several decades. He will be missed, and I pass my sincere condolences on to his wife, Helen, and his children. Vale, Bill Spurr.

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