Australian Masters Games

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright) (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Tourism and Minister for Recreation and Sport. What is the government doing to secure the future of the Masters Games as an event in Adelaide?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (15:07): I thank the member for Wright for the question. The 15^th Australian Masters Games wrapped up here on Saturday night with a great closing ceremony at the Convention Centre. It ended eight days of terrific competition and socialising by about 10,000 participants and officials, who came from all parts of Australia—we had a team of 70 come from India for athletics—and it was great fun on and off the sporting arena.

I want to thank the member for Wright for getting out to so many events, including some hockey events where her son, Brett Rankine, became a three-time gold medallist, along with his Port Adelaide Magpies hockey team, who have been in three Australian Masters Games in a row. I also must mention the member for Reynell, who was a participant in basketball. She did not quite make it to the podium and is still feeling a little bit stiff and sore from the experience, but that is what the Masters Games are all about. They are available to people aged 30 and over, and it is just a terrific way for people to have a lot of fun.

It is a great way for us to show off our state as well. In this year's budget we put in an extra $35 million to attract more events and conventions to South Australia. The next Australian Masters Games will be held in 2017 in northwest Tasmania and, in 2019, we would love to have these games back in Adelaide. When we had them here in 2011, they injected $8.9 million into the economy. I had a text from a publican mate of mine who has a very good establishment (David Basheer from The Strathmore hotel on North Terrace), and he said, 'This is like The Rolling Stones but spread out over eight or nine days. It is a similar sort of impact.'

The other great thing about having all these people come here and have such a good time is that they go home and tell their friends and families about the tremendous time they had, and then they bring them back and show them what they saw.

I just want to point out a few of the highlights. Tennis player Henry Young was the oldest participant at 92 years of age. Roger Churchwood, the oldest track and field competitor, won gold in the five-kilometre, the 100-metre and 800-metre runs at 90 years of age.

Mr Griffiths: What were his times?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I don’t know but, if I was 90 and doing the five-kilometre run, I would probably be still out there running I reckon, so he deserves a huge round of applause. Sunesh Kumar, Malaysia's only representative at the games, won four gold medals in race walking, 55-year-old Clare Burrell was Australia's newest indoor rowing record holder after breaking the 500-metre lightweight time, and Sherry Gale broke her own archery record in the 60 to 69-plus recurve event.

One person, I think, who didn't get a medal, who probably deserves the biggest gold medal of the entire Masters Games, was the pilot who brought a plane down safely in Victoria Park. We had a parachuting team on board, it was the day before the games opened, and they were going through some practice runs. It was a very scary moment for the pilot and those people on board but a testament to the great skills of the pilot, who is a very modest man who didn't want to talk publicly about what he did.

He found a spot in Victoria Park—as I understand it, the first place that he had. People moved into his line of sight, so he had to turn around and take evasive action, but he brought that plane down with relatively little damage to the aircraft and, thankfully and fortunately, without any major damage to any of those people who were on board. It was a great Masters Games, and I would love to have them back here in 2019.