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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 489 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 11 August 2022 by Mr G. Baker

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

RECONNECT WA

489. Mr G. BAKER to the Minister for Tourism:

I refer to the McGowan Labor government's Reconnect WA package to promote Western Australia, attract investment and diversify the state's economy.

(1) Can the minister update the house on the success of the major blockbuster events that this government has secured for Western Australia?

(2) What have the events meant for the promotion of the state and the local community?

Mr R.H. COOK replied:

(1)–(2) I thank the member for the question. It is a great question, because we know that Western Australia is open for business and open for tourism. The $195 million Reconnect WA package is all about taking Western Australia to the world, reconnecting with our old friends and neighbours, and making new friends and bringing them to Western Australia.

The events that we hold in Western Australia are great fun but they are also a serious part of our economy. This year, Western Australia became the sporting capital of Australia. The Winter Live festival of sport began on 26 June with the Ampol State of Origin and a sold-out crowd of 59 398 fans, along with 3.1 million TV viewers who watched that rather unfortunate result of the New South Wales Blues defeating the Queensland Maroons. The revenue per available room received by Perth city accommodation for that Saturday night Origin game was the fifth highest since 2018, bettered only by the 2021 AFL grand final and New Year's Eve events. The following Saturday, international Rugby Union returned to Optus Stadium when the Wallabies had a 30–28 win over England in front of a crowd of 47 688 people. What is interesting about those numbers is that that was a larger number of people than the number who attended the game in Brisbane or the game in Sydney, which is the so-called home of Rugby Union in Australia. That was a great attendance by WA sports lovers. The unforgettable, sold-out Suncorp Super Netball grand final was held at RAC Arena, which was won by West Coast Fever for the first time in its 25-year history. That was a day that I think we were all immensely proud to be Western Australians.

If that was not enough, we also had Perth's Festival of International Football, or ICON 2022, held at our award-winning, world-class Optus Stadium, where Manchester United, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Leeds United took part in the biggest festival of English Premier League football in WA. Although we are still waiting to receive the full economic impact of the ICON festival, the early numbers are that we had an at least 10 per cent lift in hotel occupancy over that weekend and over 97 000 people attended those two games over the two nights. The figures will no doubt demonstrate the value of hosting such high-calibre events in Western Australia. In addition to the domestic and international broadcast showcasing Perth to the global audience, the teams' players were treated to an array of tourism experiences that were incorporated into the broadcast and shared on the players' and teams' social media platforms. Manchester United, in particular, has significant grunt in its social media capacity. All these events have driven thousands of visitors to our city and showcased our beautiful state to hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

A massive thankyou to the staff across our tourism and hospitality sector who catered for all those great events, filling our bars, cafes and hotels, and bringing the state alive and continuing to energise our economy. I am proud of the work done by the McGowan government to make Perth one of the top three events destinations of South-East Asia. It is great fun, but it is a serious part of our economy. With the Reconnect WA package, we are making great strides in our tourism industry.