Grievance Debate

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP EVENTS

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:05): We have spoken many times in this place about the value of surf life saving in South Australia. I congratulate surf life saving groups in South Australia—not only the clubs that are in my electorate or on the boundary of my electorate, namely Somerton Surf Life Saving Club, Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club and the newly-acquired (in the electoral boundary redistribution) West Beach Surf Life Saving Club—on the work they do in protecting South Australians. The culmination of the efforts of all South Australian surf life savers is that we have in South Australia last week and next week the World Surf Life Saving Championships—Rescue 2012—which also involves the work of the Royal Life Saving Society.

There are over 41 countries and over 4,000 competitors visiting the Glenelg area. The bay is pumping at the moment with not just surf life savers but also their families, relatives and friends, and the officials that are allied with the 41 countries. I had the pleasure of hosting one of the delegates from Egypt, Dr Mohamed Saleh, in this place the other day. Dr Saleh is not only a delegate to the Lifesaving World Championships but also a member of the Egyptian parliament.

It is good to see that countries where you would not expect surf life savers to be active are participating in the championships. In the march past there was one young fellow from Cameroon. He was the whole team. He thought he had gone to the Olympics and won a gold medal just by participating. It is great to see the activities that are going on down there. It is an amalgamation of work with the local councils—the City of Holdfast Bay obviously, the City of Marion and the City of Onkaparinga—and the mayors have been very supportive of this event.

The events being held at Glenelg are the national team championship events, the inflatable rescue boat events and the standard beach events that you would see at any surf carnival, such as the flag events, the running events, the races and the rescue events. Christies Beach is the home of the masters events and the surfboat events. The Marion State Aquatic Centre is holding the pool events, where the rescue and emergency situations—resuscitation and that sort of thing—are being examined and tested. The participants are giving all that they possibly can and the standards are those that we would expect of world champions. It is a fantastic event to watch.

The delegates will spend about $18 million in South Australia in the time they are here, so it is not just a small event. It is a very significant event for South Australia, and to be holding this world event is something I am very proud to have in my electorate of Morphett, where we had the reception and the opening, and Sunday week we will have the official closing ceremony of Rescue 2012 after many different events.

The other thing involving world championships in my electorate is the World Bowls Championships. The lawn bowls world championships are going to be held at Holdfast Bay Bowling Club and Lockleys Bowling Club. There will be competitors from many countries all over the world. This event is going to be televised internationally and nationally. We should remember that lawn bowls now is an event for all ages. In fact, the Australian commonwealth lawn bowls team is younger than the Australian cricket team. The Australian champion for lawn bowls is, I think, in their late 20s or early 30s, from memory. It is an event for all ages and to have the world championships down in Glenelg is a real fillip for the Holdfast Bay Bowling Club. They do a wonderful job down there. I have been there many, many times. I think they probably have the longest bar in South Australia. It is a club that hosts many functions and one that the state should be very proud of.

To be able to hold world events in Glenelg is something that I am proud of as their local member, and South Australia should be very proud of the facilities and the beautiful environment that we have down at the bay for tourists. It is a terrific event. Congratulations to all those who have been participating in organising the world championships for Surf Life Saving and Royal Life. It has been a pleasure to have them in this place, and I look forward to meeting all the delegates and competitors to the world lawn bowls championships in the next few weeks.