DPC19/1152 GPO Box 2343 Adelaide SA 5001 DX 56201 Tel 08 8226 3500 28 June 2019 Fax 08 8226 3535 www.dpc.sa.gov.au Mr Peter Malinauskas MP Leader of the Opposition Parliament House North Terrace ADELAIDE SA 5001 Sent by email: [email protected] Dear Mr Malinauskas Freedom of information application I refer to your request received by the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC) seeking access under section 13 of the Freedom of Information Act 1991 (the Act) to: Correspondence between the Premier and the Chair of BrandSA (Mr Peter Joy) for the period 13 May 2019 and 16 May 2019 relating to funding for BrandSA. A total of two documents were identified as answering the terms of your application and I have determined to grant you access to these documents in full. Please refer to the attached schedule that describes each document and sets out my determination and reasons in summary form. FOI Disclosure Log In compliance with Premier and Cabinet Circular PC045 - Disclosure Logs for Non- Personal Information Released through Freedom of Information (PC045), DPC is now required to publish a log of all non-personal information released under the Freedom of Information Act 1991. In accordance with this Circular, any non-personal information determined for release as part of this application, may be published on the DPC website. A copy of PC045 can be found at the following address: http://dpc.sa.gov.au/what-we-do/services-for- government/premier-and-cabinet-circulars Please visit the website for further information. For Official Use Only – I1 – A1 Right to internal review If you are aggrieved with this determination, you have a right to apply for internal review under subsection 29(1) of the Act. Pursuant to subsection 29(2), your application must: be in writing be addressed to the principal officer, and be lodged at an office of DPC, or emailed to [email protected] within 30 days after the day on which you receive this letter or within such further time as the principal officer may allow. If you have any questions in relation to this matter, please contact Denise Cranwell, Freedom of Information Officer, on 8429 5299 or at [email protected] Yours sincerely Kelly Biggins ACCREDITED FOI OFFICER Encl Schedule of documents Documents for release Page 2 of 2 SCHEDULE OF DOCUMENTS – DPC19/1152 Freedom of information application from the Peter Malinauskas MP seeking access to correspondence between the Premier and the Chair of BrandSA (Mr Peter Joy) for the period 13 May 2019 and 16 May 2019 relating to funding for BrandSA. No. Date Document description Exemption Released (part/full/refused) clauses 1. 13/05/2019 Letter from Brand SA to the Nil Released in full Premier 2. 14/05/2019 Letter from the Premier to Nil Released in full Brand SA For Official Use Only – I1 – A1 Page 1 of 1 1 Aston House FOR URGENT ATTENTION Level 1/15 Leigh Street Premier of South Australia Adelaide South Australia 5000 The Hon, Stephen Marshall MP T +61 8 8211 8111 GPO Box 2343 F +61 8 8211 8700 ADELAIDE SA 5001 [email protected] www.brandsouthaustralia.com.au By email: [email protected] CC: The Hon. Rob Lucas, The Hon. David Ridgway ABN 54 133 455 322 13 May 2019 Dear Premier Last week we were advised by Jim McDowell, in his role as CE of DTTI, that Brand South Australia will not be receiving any funding in the forthcoming State Budget. As the governing Board of Brand South Australia, we write to you to outline the implications of this decision, the gravity of which has prompted our response to this decision. As a consequence, if this decision was to stand: The Board has decided we would need to wind up the organisation when our current funding runs out on June 30, 2019. Brand South Australia is a not for profit organisation whose principle purpose is to support the State. Unfortunately, our membership revenue is not sufficient to remain viable. Our 16 talented and dedicated staff will need to be made redundant at this date. Our thousands of members, people registered to use the brand identity, the IChoose SA campaign, event sponsors, brand ambassadors and stakeholders will need to be informed that as a consequence of the Government’s lack of funding we will no longer be able to keep operating. Brand South Australia is a much-loved organisation that not only promotes, but symbolises, confidence and pride in our State. The past six years have seen professional and systematic growth in business confidence which has reached an all-time high recorded in March this year (Sensis Report). Brand South Australia has played a significant role in this trend, supported strongly by local media who provide, through Brand South Australia, up to $10 million a year in free stories, positive news and promotion which is unlikely to continue. The work we do in the regions grows a supportive, connective infrastructure which is aimed at building confidence, boosted by surfacing the positive news stories about successful businesses and opportunities in the regions through our Regional Showcase events. This would also cease. Brand South Australia @BrandSouthAust All of our programs from IChooseSA, encouraging people to buy locally made products, Industry Insights, cross sector information sessions, Brand SA News delivered weekly via numerous social media channels, to the successful launch of our new global expat campaign, Hello from SA, would cease. There are a number of consequences to consider for the state and its government. These programs are recognised and sought after as best practice methods which produce millions of dollars in tangible and intangible value to the State. They are valuable properties owned by Brand South Australia and by their nature they would not operate in the same way or have the same outcomes if operated from within government. Independent management of the State Brand identity would also cease. The identity developed impartially and professionally in 2013 and managed by Brand South Australia for the past 6 years is in millions of applications around the world. Just under 7,000 local organisations are registered to use the identity. The value of a consistent, common brand has been identified at all levels of the South Australian business community as a key ingredient in improving our export performance. It has already been estimated, by your own department, that it would cost over $1 million a year to bring this management process into government. It has also been admitted that there is no plan or resources to support and manage this important icon within the government bureaucracy should we cease to exist. Apart from the business network built by Brand South Australia creating an efficient cross-connected collaborative ecosystem, it also allows us to communicate with over 277,000 people every week with news and stories which positively position government and its affect on our social and economic prosperity. This would cease at the end of June. Brand South Australia runs over 100 events a year, principally to connect the various key industry sectors together and make them aware of government policies, activities and initiatives that could be turned into opportunities for their own businesses. We also support and run events for a wide range of government departments and agencies, created by a highly skilled and motivated staff and delivered at minimal cost partly enabled by our capability to leverage corporate support. This will also cease and create more work and expense for government. The Joyce Review gave special emphasis to the need to improve state branding and marketing to achieve the Growth Agenda. It references Brand South Australia and the work we do in 10 separate instances in order to achieve this. The Joyce Review gave us some confidence that we would be able to play an even greater role in building a strongly connected business ecosystem, with a core role marketing the State interstate and overseas to turn around negative or misguided perceptions. The success of Brand South Australia in leveraging such positive marketing has resulted in other states and countries regularly coming to us to learn about place branding and marketing. No one in your current government has experience or skill in this area. The Joyce Review also highlighted the opportunity to recognise and harness the skills and connections of ex-pat South Australians living interstate and overseas. This was an idea put forward by Brand South Australia when interviewed for the Review. After six months in development, we launched the ‘Hello from SA’ campaign only two weeks ago and have already enrolled over 9,000 people from more than 20 different countries in the campaign. Below are the Implications of this decision to your government: At a time when Australia is about to launch a new brand, and even Tasmania has passed legislation and approved a budget of $4million to develop their brand, your government is withdrawing funding. Brand South Australia, in its various manifestations over the past 30 years has in itself become a symbol of pride and confidence in the State – largely because of the consistency of both branding and quality service delivered by Brand South Australia’s culture and expertise. Apart from our active members we have hundreds of members who never attend events, yet they belong to us as a tangible symbol of their pride in, and connection to, the State. The media in particular have a deep emotional investment in our organisation and they will not respond favourably, or quietly, to this ill-considered decision. We will work with them to make our members, stakeholders and the public aware of the simplistic basis on which the decision has been taken.