Clipsal 500 Tickets for Volunteers

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:02): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier tell the house how many CFS volunteers and SES volunteers will be receiving tickets to the V8 races next week? Is it for the Thursday, when there are no V8 races, or will they be given tickets for the Saturday when there are actually V8 races?

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) (15:02): I thank the member for Morphett for the question. We do look after the volunteers in South Australia. This is a practice that started a few years ago when we went out and made tickets to the Clipsal 500 available to CFS and SES volunteers. It is a terrific event and great entertainment over the entire four days. I know for example the Robby Gordon—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Sir, I will answer the question on my terms, not on the member for MacKillop's terms.

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop is innocent!

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Sorry, the member for Morphett. There is plenty to do for the whole family for the entire four days of the Clipsal 500. So Robby Gordon Stadium Super Trucks—those ones that go over the jumps—are there Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. The V8s are on the road—

Mr Knoll: Answer the question.

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is on two warnings.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —on Friday. They do their qualifying on the Friday and then there is a 250-kilometre race on the Saturday and then another race on the Sunday as well, so there is plenty there for the whole four days. We've got concerts on every night and this year we have made available to volunteers 1,000 tickets to the V8 Supercars—

The Hon. J.M. Rankine interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is warned.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —and I must say that I have been out there in previous years and I have caught up with the volunteers, and they have been extremely grateful for the opportunity to go out there. There is action on all four days of the Clipsal 500. It is a terrific event. It brings in $60 million to the state's economy. It is a tremendous outing, and I have got to say that the volunteers that I have caught up with from the CFS and the SES are extremely grateful for the opportunity to get out there and see these great cars in action. We've given away 1,000 tickets to the volunteers. As to which days they are spread out over, I'm not sure, but I'm happy—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I'm happy to have wound down the clock.

The SPEAKER: The Alan Knott of the house has taken us through to stumps.