ABC Gold Coast Interview
JOURNALIST: Kathy Borderasked the Tourism Minister and Member from Moncrieff, Steve Ciobo, if there'smore to come in the campaign.
STEVEN CIOBO: There certainlyis. This is the first advertisement in the campaign that's going run for thenext two years, but of course the buzz has been generated around the teasertrailers, which have been out there in the marketplace for the last week ortwo. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting, as they say Kathy. What we'veseen is more than 400 million engagements, 80% of which are in North Americaaround this campaign. We have more than 100 million Americans that watched theSuper Bowl. This has been the most talked about commercial in the Super Bowl,more than Budweiser Beer, or Doritos biscuits, or anything like that. It's aterrific, terrific, traction that this advertisement's gotten.
KATHY BORDER: How much does itcost taxpayers? How much were the actors paid?
STEVEN CIOBO: Oh, this is a$36 million campaign over the next two years. To put some context around that,the reason we're doing this is because this is a campaign to drive moreAmerican tourists to Australia. The reason that matters is because tourism is a$41 billion industry. It directly employees more than 600,000 Aussies. Inplaces like the Gold Coast, of course, it's one of the biggest, if not thebiggest, employer in the local economy. So getting more tourists into thecities of Australia, or into the regions of Australia, will help to driveeconomic growth and help get more jobs for Aussies as well.
KATHY BORDER: The actors, howmuch were they paid?
STEVEN CIOBO: So the actorshave been fantastic. I cannot thank enough the outstanding work of people like,Russell Crowe, and Margot Robbie, Chris and Liam Hemsworth, Jessica Mauboy.They all stepped up. Now, they all agreed to accept what's called the, SAGminimum, the Screen Actors Guild minimum, which is a requirement for them tokeep working in Hollywood. But, basically long-story short, they have savedAustralian taxpayers millions and millions of dollars by charging the bareminimum for their roles.
KATHY BORDER: Good on them.Paul Hogan gave his blessing?
STEVEN CIOBO: Yeah, he did.Hoges was crucial to this all happening. He gave it cover, so to speak, byputting it under Rimfire Productions, which of course, the original company hedid Crocodile Dundee with. Hoges has been absolutely stellar in terms ofstepping up to the plate on this too.
KATHY BORDER: How did thosenegotiations go? Was there a moment where you all thought, 'uh oh' it's notgoing to happen?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well, I wasn'tinvolved personally in the negotiations. Tourism Australia drove this campaign.When they pitched the idea to me as Minister I said, "Okay guys, I want toknow a couple of things. Does the board support this? Is Australia's tourismindustry behind it? Have you got program partners involved? Will the states andterritories line up as well?" They were able to reassure me with a tick inevery one of those boxes. We've got more than 20 program partners who are alsotipping in their own money as part of this campaign in North America. So we'veset this up really well. Kathy, as I said, this has had more traction than anyother Super Bowl ad. It's just the start of the campaign. If you actually lookat the potential audience reached, just from the news value of people talkingabout this campaign, that's now in excess of 3 billion people. I mean, theseare extraordinary numbers. It's been a really successful campaign so far.
KATHY BORDER: Now you are ofcourse, our Tourism Minister and the Member from Moncrieff, am I right inthinking the Gold Coast, we don't even see a snap of the Gold Coast in there atall in the ad?
STEVEN CIOBO: We don't fallinto that trap of having to picture every single town and country and region inAustralia, Kathy. What matters here is a bit of integrity in terms of makingsure that the story rang true. Everyone knows the Dundee story and what it'sabout. That's the most important thing. That's the reason why this gottraction. I mean, if you left it up the Members of Parliament, Kathy, thenevery Member of Parliament would want one or two second shot of their ownelectorates in the commercial and of course, the whole thing would collapseunder its own weight. So what it's about is getting a credible story that hastraction. That's exactly what we did here.
KATHY BORDER: But, you doexpect benefits to flow on to the Gold Coast tourism industry?
STEVEN CIOBO: Of course. Imean, the Gold Coast is Australia's premier holiday playground. The number ofinternational tourists coming into Australia now is more than 8 million. Theyspend more than $41 billion in terms of tourism export earnings. As I've said,600,000 people employed across Australia are on the Gold Coast, tens ofthousands employed in the industry. Of course, we stand to be bigbeneficiaries.
JOURNALIST: Steve CioboTourism Minister, Minister from Moncreiff, here on the Gold Coast speaking withDrive producer Kathy Border, earlier on today. Now, those actors ChrisHemsworth, Margot Robbie, those Australian actors involved in this particularprocess, this Australian tourism advertisement, accepting the SAG minimum rate,Screen Actors Guild minimum rate. Oh, I hear you think. What is that? What isthe minimum rate? Are you curious? Well, the SAG minimum daily rate for anactor is $842.00. The weekly rate, $2,921.00, give or take, give or take, thereor thereabouts. In relative terms, a bit of a bargain, perhaps.