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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-03-20 Daily Xml
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Kangaroo Island Visitor Centre

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:16): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment a question regarding the Kangaroo Island visitor centre.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.E. HANSON: For months Tourism KI has raised the possibility of the closure of the visitor centre at Penneshaw. During question time yesterday, the minister said that he thought he had a meeting with the SATC on Thursday to possibly discuss the future of the Kangaroo Island visitor centre. The minister also advised that he was only made aware of the issue two days ago. It is also of note that the tourism centre's motto is 'Open all year'. My questions to the minister are:

1. Will the minister guarantee emergency funding to prevent the closure and possibly change the motto to reflect the centre's now non-existent opening hours?

2. When was the last time you spoke as minister to a representative of Tourism KI?

3. Are you embarrassed that the closure of the major tourism centre in one of our most important tourism regions happened on your watch but was only brought to your attention a few days ago?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:17): I thank the honourable member for his question. Just to refer to it, I will read the headline of an email, 'The temporary closure of the Kangaroo Island Visitor Information Centre', from 24 March.

The PRESIDENT: I am not going to let you read that from your phone. Otherwise, if a member asked for it to be tabled, it cannot be tabled.

The Hon. K.J. Maher: He can table his whole telephone. We can download all his songs

The PRESIDENT: Minister, you can reflect on that whilst I listen to the Leader of the Opposition's further objection. Do you have anything else to add?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Should I seek leave to table the whole phone?

The PRESIDENT: No, I am not going to grant that. It was on a warning to the minister. Minister, please continue.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I just wanted to make sure I got the date correct. I take your advice and I won't quote from my phone in the future. I have a copy of an email that says it was closing on 24 March 2019. When I check my watch—I don't want to check it because I might have to table that—it is 20 March today, so it will be a temporary closure as of (must be) Sunday. It is disappointing. I have spoken to the mayor this morning. I have spoken to the South Australian Tourism Commission. I haven't spoken to Mr Pierre Gregor for a few weeks, but I was aware that there were some concerns about the ongoing operation and they were working through—

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Point of order: I appreciate your ruling about the entire telephone, but given that the minister has quoted from what could be a standalone document will the minister table the email which he read partly from?

The PRESIDENT: Minister.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I don't have that with me, so I'm not able to. It is my recollection of the email that I have seen.

The PRESIDENT: Leader of the Opposition.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Will the minister table the email from which he read?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I don't have it in front of me, Mr President, so it's a bit hard to table it. It's my recollection of an email.

The PRESIDENT: The Leader of the Opposition is seeking clarification on whether you intend to table the email.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Mr President, I accept he doesn't have the email physically with him from which he read earlier, but I am quite prepared for him to seek a printed out copy of it and table it for the benefit of this chamber sometime later today.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: If I am able to print it from my phone. Technology is somewhat difficult.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I was trying to answer the question. The Hon. Mr Hanson asked a question, and I have had nothing but interruptions.

The PRESIDENT: Leader of the Opposition, what I will do is reflect on your point of order. I won't give a ruling today, but I will check the precedence and give a ruling possibly tomorrow. Go on with your answer, the Hon. Mr Ridgway.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: As I said, I spoke to the mayor this morning about the issue and we are looking at a range of options. One of the questions was had I spoken to anybody from Tourism KI recently. I have spoken to Mr Pierre Gregor, the chairman. I can't recall how recently, but this has been an ongoing concern for the group on Kangaroo Island for a little while. Of course, it was built by the government and then handed over to the—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Mr President, they can't help themselves. They just want to interject and interrupt all afternoon.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: See, here they go.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Ridgway, I do point out that you have been doing the same thing. Continue with your answer, if you so choose. Opposition members, please restrain yourselves. I don't want to have a further discussion about his phone. The Hon. Mr Ridgway, please continue.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I am exhausted just getting up and down all the time. As I said, I had some discussions with the mayor this morning. I know that he suggested there may have been some people looking to operate it as a private operation and do the visitor centre—some private interests. So I said that we will look at all of the options that are on the table. An important part of tourism is access to information. A vast majority of it these days is available online. So there are a number of ways—I think the new airport at Kingscote has quite a large digital presence and some handouts. Certainly, we will be looking at all the options—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: They can't help themselves. Of course—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: They just can't help themselves.

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