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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-09-04 Daily Xml
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Gather Round

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (15:12): My question is to the Premier. Will the Limestone Coast host a Gather Round game in 2026? With your leave, Mr Speaker, and the leave of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: The government media release says, '36 per cent of attendees come from interstate.' Given the position of the Limestone Coast and that a lot of the visitors are from Victoria, surely the Limestone Coast could host some of these visitors down there when they are coming across.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (15:13): I want to thank the member for MacKillop for his question. It is a fair question.

The SPEAKER: Fred is very keen, too—Fred Smith up there, the boundary writer for 5SE.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: It is a fair question but not a unique one. If you are an MP in this place who hasn't written to me asking for a Gather Round game, you are in an exclusive club. There is already a significant benefit that we see in the Limestone Coast because of Gather Round, as the member for MacKillop well knows. A lot of people travelling from Victoria are taking the opportunity to travel through the Limestone Coast and the magnificent region that it is.

Although Mount Gambier, for instance, is not the most direct route to come from Melbourne, it is amazing to see the number of people who are going out of their way to stay on the Limestone Coast. That speaks to one of the figures hidden in the economic report that jumped out at me, which is that 4.7 days was the average length of stay for someone coming over for Gather Round, which is outstanding.

The Limestone Coast, whether it be the Mount, Robe, the lakes district, Coonawarra—all the parts of the member's electorate that he knows better than anybody—we have turned our mind to, it is fair to say, that in the event that South Australia is successful and the state government is successful in getting an extension to the contract, what that would look like in terms of future participation outside the venues that have hosted it in the past. I think that we can improve the Barossa this year. There was year one for Mount Barker; year two was better. We got a few systems in place and were able to make some adjustments. In no small part the member for Kavel—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: That's right, the local—

The SPEAKER: Premier, would you mind helping me out here by wrapping up your answer, because I actually owe the opposition a question and I do not want to deprive them of that.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Right. We will have a good look at it. We are looking at a whole range of options. I can see the merit of the member's question and will consider it in due course.

The SPEAKER: The member for Frome, and I apologise that I skipped over you.

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