Sidelined minister David Ridgway speaks out after losing tourism portfolio to Premier
The former tourism minister has spoken out after the Premier took the role for himself to lead fire recovery efforts – as the Opposition says he should lose all his portfolios.
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State Government Minister David Ridgway has spoken out about losing his tourism portfolio, saying he supports Premier Steven Marshall’s decision to take over the role.
It comes as the Opposition calls for Mr Ridgway to be sacked from Cabinet altogether.
As The Advertiser reported yesterday, Mr Marshall sidelined Mr Ridgway and took over the tourism portfolio himself.
Mr Ridgway retained his trade and investment portfolios in the Cabinet shake-up.
It came after The Advertiser last month revealed tourism sector concerns that SA was missing out on almost $1 billion a year in economic activity.
Mr Ridgway told The Advertiser he backed Mr Marshall’s decision and remained focused on trade and investment.
“There is an enormous job ahead to rebuild the communities impacted by these devastating bushfires (on Kangaroo Island and in the Adelaide Hills),” he said.
“The road to recovery will be a team effort and tourism will be one of the key economic drivers in this process, which is why I support the Premier’s decision to take on the tourism portfolio at this critical time.”
Labor spokesman Stephen Mullighan said if Mr Ridgeway “can’t handle tourism, how can he possibly be left in charge of his other portfolios of trade and investment?”
“It’s clear that David Ridgway’s performance not only in tourism but also in trade and investment has been abysmal and if (Premier) Steven Marshall sees the need to act in tourism then he should also see the need to act in trade and investment and David Ridgway should be removed from the cabinet all together,” he said.
Mr Mullighan said it was “no surprise” that the tourism portfolio had been taken away from Mr Ridgway, stating that under his watch SA’s tourism budget had been cut by $23 million; tourism marketing fell to a five-year low; international visitor nights dropped by 1000 nights (11 per cent); and international visitor spend declined by $63 million.
He said Mr Ridgway’s performance in his other portfolios “hasn’t been good either” and therefore he should be relegated to the backbench.
“We’ve now got the lowest share of national exports on record and we’ve also had significant falls in our overseas trade over the last 12 months,” Mr Mullighan said.
He also called on Mr Marshall to axe the “Old Mate” tourism campaign and reinstate Brand SA, which wound up in June last year after the Government cut its funding.
Mr Marshall defended the reshuffle, saying he took over the tourism portfolio to “send a very, very strong message that we are with these (Kangaroo Island and Adelaide Hills) communities who have been so adversely affected by the bushfires”.
Asked today if he had lost confidence in Mr Ridgway, Mr Marshall said “not at all”.
“David Ridgway has done an excellent job,” he said.
“I almost think it’s disgraceful quite frankly the Labor Party are wanting to play politics with this.
“We’ve got to be leaning in to assist the tourism sector to get back on its feet.”