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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-04-02 Daily Xml
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Adelaide Festivals

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:40): With another Mad March completed, it is gratifying to see that South Australia has continued to build on its reputation as the nation's Festival State. The Festival, the Fringe, WOMAD and Writers' Week just keep building on their legacy and make Adelaide the arts and cultural focus of Australia.

When Labor came into office in 2022, one of our many dozens of commitments was to ensure the future and continued growth of our festivals. We are called the Festival State for a reason and much of that has been through the continued work over decades of Labor governments. The month-long Fringe Festival created more than 13,000 direct and indirect jobs in 2024. That is a 250 per cent increase on the number of jobs the Fringe created before the Malinauskas Labor government came into office.

In 2021, the Fringe sold 630,000 tickets, understandably down from 800,000 due to the impact of the pandemic, but in 2023, we broke the million-ticket barrier and it appears that mark has been reached again this year for the third year straight. In 2021, the Fringe attracted more than 26,000 local, interstate and overseas tourists, who provided a $50 million boost to the state's economy. In 2024, it attracted 58,000 tourists and generated $149 million in total expenditure. The final numbers are not in for this year, but early projections suggest we are up a further 15 per cent on 2024.

The state Labor government injected an additional $8 million into promoting this year's Fringe interstate and overseas and to continue attracting international acts. If you have any doubt about the success in attracting business during March, just ask any of the major hotels whether they had spare rooms or ask the cafe and restaurant owners or the taxi and Uber drivers about the spike in their bookings.

There is a reason the Fringe is called the Fringe: it offers an appealing alternative to the main event, started in 1960, the Adelaide Festival of Arts, now known as simply the Adelaide Festival. The showpiece brings world-class theatre, music, dance and visual art to our fine city. The second largest arts festival in the world behind only Edinburgh, it is an event that must be fiercely protected and passionately promoted.

Coinciding with the Festival and the Fringe, we also are the home of Adelaide Writers' Week. This brings world renowned international writers to Adelaide, while allowing local writers to announce themselves. Held in the Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden on King William Road, the week-long celebration of literature attracts huge crowds every year. I know people who plan their annual leave around it.

Labor is also committed to making the Adelaide Film Festival an annual event and delivered on that promise in 2023. It was a natural progression for a South Australian government. Don Dunstan established the South Australian Film Corporation in 1972 and the Rann Labor government launched the Adelaide Film Festival in 2003. Extra funding by the Malinauskas government has allowed event organisers to stage the festival every year. South Australia's film history includes famous classics such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, Breaker Morant, Storm Boy and Sunday Too Far Away, as well as the exceptional AFI Award winner, Look Both Ways. It is a legacy worth protecting and cultivating.

The Labor-funded redevelopment of the Glenside precinct into a film hub supporting sound and mixing stages brings in international filmmakers. That is $50 million well spent. It encourages emerging filmmakers to stay here and develop their craft rather than head off to Hollywood or Vancouver or Pinewood Studios in England. The end product of this promotion is usually seen at the Adelaide Film Festival before national and international releases.

In keeping with Labor's ongoing support of festivals, we announced last June that we are funding a $35 million upgrade of the Festival Centre. While acts are increasingly played out in our streets and parks, the theatre is the main home of the performing arts. It is essential that we maintain the Festival Centre as a showpiece capable of attracting the best acts and performers from around the world. Labor is committed and always has been committed to making sure the Festival State remains just that for many years to come.

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