South Australia's tourism minister says it cost "a lot less" than $1 million to bring British singer Sam Smith to the state for an exclusive concert in Adelaide's McLaren Vale region.
Liberal frontbencher Michelle Lensink had suggested this morning it may have cost up to $1.5 million to bring the artist to Australia for a concert, but minister Zoe Bettison said that was wrong.
"We sign confidentiality agreements, but I can tell you it is short — a lot less than the $1 million that's been proposed," Ms Bettison said.
After earlier saying almost all of the 300 attendees at the concert at the d'Arenberg Cube last Wednesday had won radio competitions, Ms Bettison clarified that only 115 were contest winners, while 90 were media personalities and social media influencers, including 40 from interstate or overseas.
A large number of social media influencers and media personalities posted about attending the concert, with many mentioning that they had been invited by the South Australian Tourism Commission.
Arts Minister Andrea Michaels and local Labor MP Leon Bignell also attended.
As well as being paid to perform the concert, Smith was also paid to promote South Australia on social media, Ms Bettison told ABC Radio Adelaide today.
The English singer put up five posts on Instagram, one on Facebook and one on TikTok.
Highlights of their trip that they posted about included a trip to the beach at Port Willunga (that they did not name), cuddling koalas at Cleland Wildlife Park and visiting McDonald's on South Road in Melrose Park.
Ms Bettison said 742 million people had "interacted" with posts from Sam Smith about their visit, during which they announced dates for their Australian tour in October and November.
"I believe the money is well spent and these are the unique opportunities we've got to look at in tourism," she said.
Call for more transparency
As well as wanting to know the cost to taxpayers, Ms Lensink said the opposition wanted what the business case was for the concert, if there was a media plan for it and if people were asked to use specific hashtags to promote South Australian tourism.
Smith only included a hashtag once in their posts about South Australia, tagging #seesouthaustralia.
Ms Lensink estimated the cost to bring Smith to South Australia as between $1 million and $1.5 million by using the website of the booking agency they use to book private concerts.
She said the money could have been much better spent.
"We've suggested that people who would like to get a free Japanese encephalitis vaccine might also like to have access to that for free so they can go assist with the Riverland recovery," she said.
"Government is always about competing priorities and it's not an endless amount of money that is available to government and governments therefore have to justify what they're spending."
The opposition had called for wider eligibility for the vaccine on Saturday.
Mr Bignell, the Member for Mawson, said he had a "great time" at the concert that he attended as a guest of Major "Moogy" Sumner, who performed the welcome to country for the event.
He suggested ABC Radio Adelaide presenters Stacey Lee and Nikolai Beilharz were disappointed they were not invited to the concert.
"You guys sound you've just got sour grapes because you didn't get a flag," he said.
