Women in Sport

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:05): My question is directed to the Minister for Tourism. How is the state government supporting women in sport, and can you update the house on the 2017 Santos Women's Tour?

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) (15:05): I thank the member for Ashford for that question and for her advocacy for all sports but, in particular, women in sport. For many years, she has been an advocate for us making sure that we grow the women's Santos Tour Down Under to an internationally recognised event, and I am glad to say that that has happened. We grew the event this year, and next year we will grow it further.

Race director, Kimberley Conte, has developed a challenging race for next year. We are going to have more than 10 teams from Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand, along with five national teams, contesting the elite race. On Saturday 14 January, stage 1 will take the riders from Hahndorf to Meadows on a 106.5-k circuit. On Sunday 15 January, the People's Choice Classic circuit will be a 32-k race. On Monday, the riders will go from Tanunda to Lyndoch on a 92.4-k course, and then stage 4 is the Victoria Park criterium, which is one hour plus two laps, and that's a terrific night out in front of the old Victoria Park heritage grandstand.

I spoke to Carlee Taylor, who is an Australian cyclist who has been competing overseas now for a number of years but grew up here in Adelaide. She is so pleased with the work that the government and our team in the South Australian Tourism Commission's events area have done to build this event up. She says that it's a very great moment for her to be racing in front of all her family alongside some of the best riders from around the world.

Just as we have made some changes to the Clipsal 500, getting rid of grid girls, we are also changing the way we do the presentations from next year. Instead of having models up on stage as part of the presentations, we are going to have junior men's champions from South Australia, 17 and 18-year-old young riders, and for the women's race we will have young junior women's champions get up there so that they can be up close to the biggest race outside Europe and not only see how the race works, and learn from that, but also be part of what is an amazing event.

When I was talking to Carlee Taylor last night, she said that she remembers getting Stuart O'Grady's autograph when she was a 10 year old and then being out at an event 10 years later where she was competing and Stuart was competing. She said that having that access to people and being up close to them really helps motivate and push those juniors, so we are really pleased with that.

Of course, in this year's budget we put an extra $40 million into the recreation and sport area, including $10 million for women's change rooms, so that the girls and the women have the same access to change rooms as the boys and the blokes, because for too long now women have had to change in their cars, they have had to change in offices and they have had to change behind bushes. It is just not appropriate in 2016 that we have 50.5 per cent of our society not having access to those conditions.

I would like to congratulate the Australian junior women's hockey team, coached by a South Australian, Tim White. News just through from Tim is that at the world junior hockey championships in Santiago, Chile, they defeated Belgium 7-2. It was 2-2 at half-time and they won 7-2. That was in the quarter final. We wish them all the very best in the semifinal, which will be Saturday morning Adelaide time, when they will take on Argentina—

The SPEAKER: The minister's time has expired. The member for Giles.