Nine Afternoon News interview
AmeliaAdams: TheMinister for Tourism ,Steven Ciobo joins us live. Minister, good afternoon,it's a great ad. Where did the idea come from and how did you get all of thosefantastic Aussie actors all together, Hugh Jackman, and Margot Robbie, RussellCrowe, the Hemsworth brothers, it's a great cast.
Steven Ciobo: Look, it is a great cast, andI cannot thank them all enough, I mean to have A-list Australian stars likeMargot Robbie, Chris and Liam Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Jessica Mauboy, thelist goes on. To have them be so generous with their time and support, of thisTourism Australia ad is just sensational. And look, we have had tremendouscut-through. This has been the most talked about advertisement at the SuperBowl, we've had more than 400 million social media engagements already, we'vehad something like potential viewing audience of three billion, when you takeinto account all the news items, so it's a great success for Australia.
Amelia Adams: Yeah, you couldn't hopefor a bigger audience for its debut than in the Super Bowl. It cost $36 millionMinister to make. How do you justify that? Are you confident that will pay off?
Steven Ciobo: Well, let me justcorrect that. It didn't cost $36 million dollars to make, that's the value ofthe campaign over the next two years, that $36 million represents a two-yearcampaign. And what that is, Amelia, is an investment, in tourism coming toAustralia. Now our tourism industry's a $41 billion export industry, there'saround 600,000 Australians that are directly employed in our tourism industry.If we can drive more tourists to Australia, especially big-spending touristsfrom North America, that means more economic growth for our country and morejobs for Australians.
Amelia Adams: And what about theNorthern Territory News campaign to get a real return of the Dundee? Are youbehind that? Wouldn't that be good?
Steven Ciobo: Well that would beawesome, I suspect that with a stellar cast like we were able to assemble forthis commercial, would probably cost a pretty penny to produce, but ultimatelylook, it's up to a studio. If a studio came forward and said we want to makethis film with that cast, I say good luck to them.
Amelia Adams: Well it's very entertaining;it's a lot of fun and yeah, let's hope we see the return in US dollars.Minister, thank you very much for your time this afternoon.
Steven Ciobo: Good to speak with you.