Question On Notice No. 576 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 19 October 2022 by Mr R.S. Love
Parliament: 41 Session: 1
Question
I refer to campaigns under your portfolios as the Minister for Jobs and Trade and Minister for Tourism:
(a) In reference to the website and campaign "Build a Life in WA" (https://www.buildalifeinwa.com.au/):
(i) What was the cost to build this website;
(ii) When was the website first conceived as an idea to attract people to WA;
(iii) How many unique visitors have been to the website? Please breakdown by country of origin;
(iv) How is the website being marketed and how much money is budgeted in total for marketing:
(A) Interstate; and
(B) Internationally;
(v) What is the expected lifetime of the website;
(vi) What is the ongoing cost of the website;
(vii) Are there key performance indicators for the website, and if yes how will they be tracked; and
(viii) How many people have identified the website as a direct reason they have moved to Western Australia, and how is this being quantified by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation;
(b) In reference to the website and campaign "Like no other" (https://likenoother.wa.gov.au/):
(i) What was the cost to build this website;
(ii) When was the website first conceived as an idea to attract people to WA;
(iii) How many unique visitors have been to the website? Please breakdown by country of origin;
(iv) How is the website being marketed and how much money is budgeted in total for marketing:
(A) Interstate; and
(B) Internationally;
(v) What is the expected lifetime of the website;
(vi) What is the ongoing cost of the website;
(vii) Are there key performance indicators for the website, and if yes how will they be tracked; and
(viii) How many people have identified the website as a direct reason they have moved to Western Australia, and how is this being quantified by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation; and
(c) In reference to the campaign "Walking on a dream - Tourism WA" (https://www.westernaustralia.com/au/pages/western-australia-walking-on-a-dream):
(i) What was the cost to build this website;
(ii) When was the campaign first conceived;
(iii) How many unique visitors have been to the website? Please breakdown by country of origin;
(iv) What is the expected lifetime of the website;
(v) Please provide an annual expected breakdown of the $15 million budgeted for the campaign, detailing how much has been spent to date;
(vi) Please provide a breakdown of expenditure by print, digital, TV and radio advertisements in the following jurisdictions:
(A) Western Australia;
(B) Queensland;
(C) New South Wales;
(D) Victoria;
(E) Tasmania;
(F) Northern Territory;
(G) Australian Capital Territory;
(H) South Australia;
(I) International - total;
(J) Singapore;
(K) India;
(L) United States of America;
(M) China;
(N) United Kingdom;
(vii) Please provide a breakdown of fees and payments to date to any licence holder, producer and/or artist for the commercial use of the song ‘Walking on a Dream’:
(A) Are these fees once off or paid on a royalty basis; and
(B) If paid on a royalty basis, please list the cost per annum for each year of the campaign; and
(viii) Has there been any commercial agreement to use other songs by or featuring Luke Steele in other Government funded advertisement campaigns:
(A) If yes please detail.?
Answered on 22 November 2022
(a) The Build a Life in WA campaign is managed by the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Questions relating to the Build a Life in WA campaign should be directed to the Premier, as the responsible Minister.
(b) (i) $18,000 ex GST
(ii) The campaign ‘Western Australia – It’s Like No Other’ and website, were launched on 15 December 2021.
(iii) As at 7 November 2022 1.32million unique visitors, with the top 10 countries:
594,137 India
224,275 Philippines
155,489 Indonesia
119,051 Pakistan
97,089 Vietnam
52,565 Nepal
38,582 Malaysia
11,784 Bhutan
5,660 Hong Kong
5,228 Australia
(iv) (A) & (B) The website is the digital destination for a variety of marketing activities, and forms a key component of campaign engagement. The marketing campaign ‘Western Australia – It’s Like No Other’ generates awareness of Western Australia to an international audience with a spend of $2.93 million ex GST until the end of 2022 through digital and press advertising. The website is not currently promoted to an interstate audience.
(v) The website will be utilised for the duration of the “Western Australia-It’s like no other” campaign.
(vi) Cost managed within standard annual operational funding.
(vii) Yes - sessions, engagement rate, user journey, devices used and web traffic by geographic location and language.
(viii) The purpose of the website it to provide awareness of Western Australia’s key pillars for visitors, students, investors and workers; and provide referrals to other platforms under the key pillars. It does not quantify the number of people identifying the website as a direct reason for moving to Western Australia.
(c) – (i) $878,384 to add significant functional enhancements to Tourism Western Australia’s consumer website, westernaustralia.com, and incorporate new “Walking on a Dream” design elements.
(ii) October 2021
(iii) As at 19 October 2022 and since its soft launch on 1 September 2022, 343,237 unique visitors from:
277,152 Australia
28,136 New Zealand
10,103 Singapore
8,367 United Kingdom
6,342 United States of America
4,665 India
4,592 Germany
3,880 Malaysia
(iv) 7 years before the website is likely to require a redesign and further enhancements
(v) 2021-22 - $1,400,000
2022-23 - $13,759,712 (budget spent or is committed to be spent)
Total - $15,159,712
(vi)(A)-(H) Confidentiality of funding amounts spent with media companies across specific media is critical in order to maintain the Government’s ability to negotiate the best outcome for the State on future Tourism Western Australia campaigns. Tourism Western Australia has assessed that this information is confidential and commercially sensitive and cannot be released.
Accordingly, I will notify the Auditor General’s office and both houses of Parliament that part of the questions will not be answered as per Section 82 of the Financial Management Act 2006.
(vi)(I) $2,000,000 has been committed in 2022-23, with campaign activity commencing in different international markets at different times of the year.
(vi)(J)-(N) Confidentiality of funding amounts spent in specific markets is critical in order to maintain the Government’s ability to negotiate the best outcome for the State on future Tourism Western Australia campaigns. Tourism Western Australia has assessed that this information is confidential and commercially sensitive and cannot be released.
Accordingly, I will notify the Auditor General’s office and both houses of Parliament that part of the questions will not be answered as per Section 82 of the Financial Management Act 2006.
(vii)(A)-(B) Confidentiality of negotiations, contract terms and funding amounts is critical in order to maintain the Government’s ability to negotiate the best outcome for the State on future Tourism Western Australia campaigns. Tourism Western Australia has assessed that contract information, including the fees and payments to date to any licence holder, producer and/or artist for the commercial use of the song ‘Walking on a Dream’ is confidential and commercially sensitive and cannot be released.
Accordingly, I will notify the Auditor General’s office and both houses of Parliament that part of the questions will not be answered as per Section 82 of the Financial Management Act 2006.
(viii) No
(A) N/A