Marshall has also pledged to open three new trade offices in Germany, India and South East Asia if his government is re-elected at the March 19 state election.
Airlines including Singapore, Qatar and Qantas have resumed international flights out of Adelaide following COVID-19-prompted border closures.
But Emirates announced in 2020 that it would stop flights from Adelaide to Dubai indefinitely.
Marshall said the attraction fund and new trade offices would increase export opportunities for South Australian producers and manufactures, while also providing a much-needed tourism hit following the pandemic.
“We are recognised as a clean, green state that produces high quality products that can’t be found anywhere else,” he said.
“Our wine, our seafood and our agriculture are viewed as outstanding on the international stage.
“We want to expand on that – we want to have more South Australian products in more overseas markets.”
According to the Marshall Government, the three new offices would cost around $5.5 million over the forward estimates.
A new trade office in Paris is also scheduled to open later this year,
It follows the establishment of South Australian trade offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and the USA, in addition to the Agent General’s office in London which has supported South Australian trade since 1859.
Labor yesterday continued its focus on health spending with a promise of an extra 50 beds at the yet-to-be-built new Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
Russia recognises Ukraine rebel areas
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a document recognising the independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine in the Kremlin in Moscow. Photo: Alexei Nikolsky/AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree recognising two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent entities, upping the ante amid fears of war.
Putin announced his decision in a televised address and in phone calls to the leaders of Germany and France, who voiced disappointment, the Kremlin said.
The move could torpedo a last-minute bid for a summit with US President Joe Biden to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine and the rouble extended its losses as Putin spoke on the issue, falling 3.3 per cent on the day to 79.83 per US dollar.
Putin held a long address, delving into history as far back as the Ottoman empire and as recent as the tensions over NATO’s eastward expansion – a key irritant for Russia in the present crisis.
He described Ukraine as an integral part of Russia’s past without a tradition of genuine statehood of its own.
He said the east of the country covered ancient Russian lands.
“If Ukraine was to join NATO it would serve as a direct threat to the security of Russia,” he said.
Putin has for years worked to restore Russia’s influence over countries that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union, with Ukraine holding an important place in his ambitions.
Russia denies any plan to attack its neighbour but it has threatened unspecified “military-technical” action unless it receives sweeping security guarantees, including a promise that Ukraine will never join NATO.
Recognition of the rebel-held areas could pave the way for Moscow to send military forces into the two separatist regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – openly and argue that it is intervening as an ally to protect them against Ukraine.
The European Union warned of sanctions from the 27-member bloc should Moscow annex or recognise the breakaway regions in the east of Ukraine and largely controlled by Russia-backed separatists.
“If there is annexation, there will be sanctions, and if there is recognition, I will put the sanctions on the table and the ministers will decide,” the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers.
Earlier this week, US and European officials said the US and allies were not totally in agreement about how to respond in case of stepped-up support for pro-Russian separatists.
It will also narrow the diplomatic options to avoid war, since it is an explicit rejection of a seven-year-old ceasefire mediated by France and Germany, touted as the framework for future negotiations on the wider crisis.
Low income earners in SA spending big on rentals
Photo: InDaily
The price of new rentals in South Australia has risen by more than seven per cent over the past year, a new report reveals, renewing calls for increased investment in social housing.
The South Australian Council of Social Service’s latest cost of living update, released today, also shows the number of social housing dwellings has decreased from 9.9 per cent of the housing market in 2000, to 6.7 per cent last year.
The report used data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and State Government to track changes to the cost of living, particularly for vulnerable and disadvantaged South Australians.
It found between December 2020 and December 2021, the price of new rentals in South Australia increased by 7.2 per cent.
“Our report shows that an age pensioner in a two-bedroom unit could easily be paying over 50 per cent of their income on rent, while a single parent on the minimum wage would see around 35 per cent of their income go on rent at the bottom end of the market,” SACOSS CEO Ross Womersley said.
“While much of the public debate around housing affordability centres on homeowners and house prices, it is often renters that have the biggest affordability challenges – particularly those on the lowest incomes.”
SACOSS has called on all political parties to commit to a “significant investment” in public housing in South Australia ahead of the March 19 state election.
“Many of the levers of rental affordability lie with the federal government, but the biggest thing the state government could do would be to invest in social housing,” Womersley said.
“This would provide much-needed housing for those who otherwise struggle in the private market, but it would also provide an economic stimulus and increase the supply of rental properties – which could benefit all renters through less competition for properties and lower prices.”
Long road ahead for tourism recovery
Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily
International tourists have been welcomed back to South Australia after almost two years but experts warn the tourism industry will feel the effects of the border closure for years to come.
Premier Steven Marshall welcomed the arrival of the first international flight to Adelaide yesterday with the lifting of Australia’s border restrictions.
He said the border closure had been punishing on families,xjmtzyw businesses and the visitor economy.
“It is going to take some time for international tourism to recover, but it starts today,” he said.
Tourism and Transport Forum CEO Margy Osmond said the reopening date is just the first step to recovering the battered industry.
She said tourists from Australia’s two biggest markets – China and New Zealand – still weren’t travelling and it wasn’t certain when they would restart.
“We are seeing a bit of a surge by the booking platforms and by the major travel agents and travel services but most of the bookings are for the second half of the year,” she told the ABC on Monday.
Osmond urged federal and state governments to invest in airport capacity and tourism campaigns, saying Australia wasn’t the only country trying to attract international travellers.
“We are probably now in the most competitive world tourism market we have ever seen, everybody wants to get those tourists back and we’re just going to have to work very, very hard to make it happen,” she said.
She said she also wanted the cruise industry to be allowed to resume and hopes it will be on the agenda for the next national cabinet meeting on March 11.
“I think it’s quite crazy that we are open but we aren’t open to cruises … We might have some word over the next 10 days to two weeks on a date this year for cruises to start,” she said.
Meanwhile head of tourism at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry John Hart said international travel was not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024.
He said governments must provide targeted financial support for businesses to help them stay afloat until their operations can fully resume.
South Australia reported 1217 new COVID-19 cases on Monday.
SA Health said 12,946 people currently have the virus with 190 in hospital including 13 people in intensive care, three of whom require ventilators.
Adelaide declared fruit fly free
The State Government says a two-year battle against fruit fly in metropolitan Adelaide is now over, with residents finally allowed to freely move fruit from their properties.
In a statement this morning, Primary Industries Minister David Basham declared the government had successfully eradicated 12 Mediterranean and Queensland fruit fly outbreaks following what he described as “by far the largest successful fruit fly eradication campaign ever delivered in Australia”.
The outbreaks impacted large swathes of Adelaide, including the Hills, and forced restrictions on the movement of fruit.
Since 2019, around 350 staff were employed at the peak of the response to eradicate the pest, visiting nearly 200,000 properties and releasing nearly 700 million sterile flies.
“The two-year battle has seen dedicated orange overall-wearing fruit fly officers going door-to-door right across metropolitan Adelaide undertaking baiting and checking fruit,” Basham said.
“By working together as a community, we have protected our local $1.3 billion fresh fruit industry vulnerable to fruit fly and the thousands of jobs the sector supports.
“This means Adelaide residents can once again move fruit and vegetables from their property which will be a huge relief to many and I thank everyone for following the rules and doing the right thing.”
But Basham said there were still Queensland fruit fly outbreaks affecting the Riverland and asked those living in the region to carefully check the map on the government’s fruit fly website.
UK to scrap remaining virus curbs
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will end all coronavirus restrictions in England including mandatory self-isolation for people with COVID-19 and free testing.
Johnson’s “living with COVID” plan has sparked alarm that it is premature and will leave the country vulnerable to new viral variants but the government says it has provided more testing than most other countries and must now curb the cost.
As Hong Kong builds isolation units and Europe retains distancing and vaccine rules, Johnson is moving to repeal any pandemic requirements that impinge on personal freedoms, saying it is time the public took responsibility.
He will lean even more on the roll-out of booster vaccines, with the government offering extra booster doses to the most vulnerable, as well as other pharmaceutical interventions such as antiviral treatments.
“Restrictions pose a heavy toll on our economy, our society, our mental well-being and on the life chances of our children, and we do not need to pay that cost any longer,” Johnson told parliament.
“So let us learn to live with this virus and continue protecting ourselves and others without restricting our freedoms.”
Johnson said that the legal requirement to self-isolate for people who test positive for COVID-19 would be removed on February 24 while free universal testing would end on April 1.
But he said that some surveillance of the coronavirus would remain in place, allowing for a rapid response to new variants, which could be quickly scaled up.
The plan to ditch remaining legal restrictions is a priority for many of Johnson’s Conservative Party MPs whose discontent over his scandal-ridden leadership has threatened his grip on power.
The devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have set their own COVID-19 restrictions but the amount of money they have to spend on testing will flow from decisions made by the United Kingdom government.
