THE
PROJECT — WESTERN AUSTRALIAN BROADCAST
184. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Minister for Tourism:
I
refer to Tourism WA's funding of Channel 10's broadcast of its
evening program The Project from WA for the week.
(1) How much
taxpayer money did Tourism WA pay for The Project to broadcast from
Perth this week?
(2) What is the cost–benefit
value of bringing this broadcast to WA?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
I thank the member for the question.
(1)–(2) It
provides us with further information and summary about what was in The West
Australian this morning. It is almost as
reliable as a clipping service! It provides me with a great opportunity to
provide the chamber with some information on our $12 million domestic
marketing blitz, which is one of the initiatives of the $195 million Reconnect WA package, which is all about letting the world
know that we are open for business and Western Australia is ready to welcome
everyone to its shores for not only tourism, but also business and study,
making sure that we can continue to benefit from those great industries. Part
of that marketing blitz includes billboards, social media, newspapers,
magazines and broadcasts between now and July. The Project broadcasting
for the first time outside of New South Wales and Victoria is part of this
marketing campaign.
The opposition has criticised the
borders, it has criticised the mandates and it has criticised all those
initiatives that we have introduced. It has even talked negatively about
efforts by the Minister for Police around
gun control. There does not seem to be a single issue that this opposition does
not want to turn into a negative for the people of Western Australia. I would
have thought that the idea of making sure that the rest of Australia is aware of what a great place Western Australia is,
what a great place it is to come to and sample tourism products and what a terrific opportunity this is for our
economy would be considered a good thing
by members opposite and that they would be proud of that sort of opportunity
and initiative, but clearly not. Clearly, this is just another one on
the great list of initiatives that the opposition has been negative about right
throughout its time on those benches.
In relation to this part of the
marketing process, all three commercial television networks were given the
opportunity to respond to an open brief about being bold and imaginative and
making sure we could get our message out there in the community. Tourism WA's
view was that Network 10's proposal represented the best overall
opportunity for the state in this instance. Many members will have seen the
temporary studio it has set up so that the panel is framed against this great
capital city. In addition, Lisa Wilkinson and Rove McManus are going out and
doing pieces in regional Western Australia. I saw recently that Rove swam with
the whale sharks in Ningaloo—something I thought the member for North
West Central would think was a good idea. Support would be a good idea. Of
course, Rove McManus has more than 160 000
Instagram followers. In addition, Lisa Wilkinson was broadcasting about her
experiences soaking up our tourism product in Broome. She has over 370 000
Instagram followers. This is it.
Dr D.J. Honey interjected.
Mr R.H. COOK: I agree with
the member for Cottesloe that the Premier is a great advocate and ambassador
for Western Australia, because the whole of Australia has seen the great
leadership that he has provided to this part of the world during the global
pandemic. Notwithstanding the qualities of the new Premier in South Australia,
I can see people beating a path to Western Australia just to meet the Premier.
Obviously, we all benefit from the reach of his social media footprint.
It might be of interest to members
in the chamber that this Sunday more than two million readers on the east coast
will pick up a Sunday paper wrapped up in a magnificent advertisement—I
have a mock-up here—featuring the Wander Out Yonder campaign. This will
feature great and iconic images of Western Australia's tourism product.
It is all about continuing to ensure that
the readers of The Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Herald Sun and The
Sunday Mail in Queensland all have an opportunity to see what
a great place Western Australia is to visit. I,
like everyone in Western Australia—no, not everyone—maybe some
do not believe that promoting Western Australia is a good thing and maybe
some feel that they can continue to detract and run down Perth and our
entertainment districts and Western Australia,
but we on this side of the chamber believe that it is important that we have
this sort of tourism product.
I
note the member's question about this specific part of the $12 million
package; it was also asked in the other place. Obviously, we are
absolutely willing and offer the opportunity to provide details of the full $12
million package, but, of course, it is an individual contract that is subject
to commercial-in-confidence, so we will not be revealing the details of that.