Regional Events

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (15:30): I rise to make a few comments. First, I would like to acknowledge and congratulate the Premier of South Australia on attracting the AFL Magic Round here to Adelaide. Beating out Sydney and every other city in Australia was a master stroke. I think everyone is waiting eagerly to see how it all comes together, as it will be a very difficult logistical exercise. This city is starting to feel a bit like Melbourne did in the nineties—bold and prepared to fight to attract major events to the city as much as an economic driver as a sporting one. Wouldn't it be good to one day secure the Formula One back to South Australia?

This weekend we will see the Adelaide 500 put the City of Adelaide on the world stage from a tourism point of view, with LIV Golf, the AFL Magic Round, combined with the exciting events such as the Tour Down Under, the ICC T20 World Cup, the NRL State of Origin and many others. My comment to all of this is that it is fantastic and something I support 100 per cent, but we cannot lose sight of our regions.

These events I have previously identified are predominantly, except for the Tour Down Under, city-based attractions. I commend the previous Labor minister, the member for Mawson, who as a minister started a conversation with me and my community about bringing an aspect of the Tour Down Under to Mount Gambier. Having footage of riders riding around the Blue Lake and those images being beamed across the globe would be a fantastic tourism opportunity. In fact, I remember him saying, and I do not know if I will hold him to this, that if he did not deliver something he would ride a unicycle around the Blue Lake and then jump in. Unfortunately, he did not deliver, so we are waiting for that part.

Mount Gambier is the state's second largest city and we would love to work together with the state government to look at opportunities going forward. Being located between Melbourne and Adelaide, there are many sporting opportunities that could be attracted to the Blue Lake city. One such opportunity would be a game from the AFL Magic Round to be played in Mount Gambier. In fact, as I am sure the member for Schubert would agree, it is a real opportunity to showcase regional South Australia to a national audience—a game in the Barossa, Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Mount Barker and Mount Gambier.

I know there would be logistical challenges; however, anything is possible if you dare to dream and have the will to succeed. Whatever is required regarding facilities, grounds, transport, player protection and so on could be achieved if we were given a chance. Just as some might argue a metropolitan street is not the best place to hold a car race, when the time and money and expertise is invested and infrastructure goes up, the city will be completely transformed into the perfect street racing venue.

The main argument is around our city not having the venue or infrastructure to support 8,000 people. I am heading to the Adelaide 500 this weekend and could see the grandstands being relocated to an oval in Mount Gambier providing this seating. I am told there are facilities for well over 10,000 people, and I would almost guarantee we would sell out every single one of those seats twice over, plus the corporate facilities.

For those who say it is too far away, just look at how far fans travel. They hit the Dukes Highway for 10 hours to travel from Adelaide to Mount Gambier to watch the Crows play over in Victoria. Being equally located between Melbourne and Adelaide, Mount Gambier has a major advantage. We would gladly host the Victorian team, as there are just as many residents who support a Victorian team in Mount Gambier as support a South Australian team. We have locals who play for Geelong, in Brad Close and Jeremy Cameron.

Victorians would travel just over the border, and it would be a massive economic and tourism-related input into our incredible city. I would like to see Mount Gambier's hotels booked out, just as Adelaide's are for the Adelaide 500 this weekend. So, when the state government says South Australia is hosting the Magic Round of AFL, I believe it should be all of South Australia that benefits not just the City of Adelaide.