Tour Down Under

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (16:46): I move:

That this council—

1. Acknowledges the hardworking volunteers, South Australia Police, paramedics and emergency services personnel that supported the successful staging of the Tour Down Under in 2019;

2. Acknowledges the sad passing of Paul Sherwen and his important contribution to the event;

3. Acknowledges the economic impact of the event to South Australia and the way it enhances the state’s sporting and destination reputation; and

4. Congratulates the SATC, Events SA and race directors Mike Turtur and Kimberly Conte for their organisation for another successful TDU event.

As we all know, the Tour Down Under is a hallmark event in the South Australian events calendar. From its beginning, when it was announced, I think in probably about 1998, and from the first time it was run in 1999 under the former Olsen Liberal government, the race has grown into an international event—in fact, the biggest cycling race outside of Europe, something I think we should be all particularly proud of.

The 21^st edition of the Santos Tour Down Under was successfully staged from 10 to 20 January this year. More than 700,000 people lined the streets of Adelaide and regional South Australia across the 10 days of men's and women's racing. The pictures of South Australia were beamed across the country and around the world.

An event of this size and stature requires the support of many people in crucial roles. The Santos Tour Down Under would not be possible without the commitment and support of the South Australian police and all of our emergency services. They are critical to the event's success. I think the police made a number of trips to events like the Tour de France and others before we actually attempted to stage this event, probably 25 years ago, to learn what they would need to do, so clearly this has been a significant commitment from SAPOL and our other emergency services to support the event.

SAPOL's emergency and major event section have a large task in ensuring the safety of competitors, spectators and other road users in managing the rolling road closure aspect of the Tour Down Under. As well as crowd management, bike and foot patrol, advance reconnaissance, SAPOL provide educational and crime prevention sessions and do bike engraving and safety information sessions at the Tour Village.

The MFS, CFS and SES provide dedicated staff to provide incident control and planning. The hardworking SES volunteers, who are always providing support to the community, work five or six hours a day to support the event, and across the event the Tour Down Under volunteers committed some 3,000 hours. For this, we say thank you.

It would also be remiss of me not to acknowledge and thank the TDU's commercial sponsors and our host councils who partner with us and share our vision for growth. Their contribution is critical to the event's success. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the naming rights sponsor, Santos, who have extended their commitment through to 2022. I thank them for their confidence in the state.

It is interesting that, in their extension to 2022, Santos are very keen to see—and so are we—the women's event elevated to a world tour event. In fact, I had a number of meetings with UCI officials while they were here to have this event grow even larger by extending the women's race and also a couple of what I think they call monument or white road events over that period. We may well see in, say, 2021 or 2022, the event being even larger than it is today and having more of the world's cycling fraternity paying attention to Adelaide. I think it is something we should be particularly proud of, that this little state has the biggest cycling event in the world, outside of Europe, and it continues to grow in stature and importance.

It was with much sadness that prior to this event Paul Sherwen passed away very suddenly. For two decades, Paul was one half of the dynamic duo on the TDU's TV broadcast commentary team alongside Phil Liggett. Known globally as the international voices of cycling, Paul told the story of the TDU through his commentary, which was screened around Australia and the world. The 2019 Santos Tour Down Under was the first time the cycling world had come together since Paul's death. The TDU paid tribute to Paul Sherwen and his contribution to not only our event but also to the sport of cycling during the team presentations and the Down Under Classic broadcast program.

Of course, special attention and tribute was paid to Paul Sherwen during the Legends' Night Dinner. He was regarded as an absolute legend of the sport, and it was a pleasure to be part of honouring Paul on that particular night. I met him very briefly on a couple of occasions. I did not know him closely, but by all accounts he was generous. He always had smile on his face, he always put a smile on your face. He had a deep passion and care for the work that he did and the people he worked with and for, including the riders and fans. He will be sadly missed.

The Santos Tour Down Under delivers a significant contribution to the South Australian economy. In 2018, we saw 46,000 event-specific visitors travel to South Australia from interstate and overseas, delivering $63.7 million in economic benefit to South Australia. We do not have the final figures for the 2019 event, but at this stage we think the figures will be as good if not better. Anecdotally, people are talking about the increased number of international accents in the crowd.

In response to a question, I may have spoken about a young man from the US who was having some particularly severe cancer treatment. In hospital one night, while he was having treatment, he streamed the Tour Down Under and said to his wife the next day, 'If I live through this, we're going to the Tour Down Under.' I met them by chance in Willunga. I thought it was great story, that he and his wife had left their five kids at home with the grandparents and came to Australia for 10 days to enjoy the Tour Down Under. I think it shows the reach of this event.

We had a wonderful, brand-new domestic world-class partnership with Channel 7, with 33½ hours of the 2019 program, across both the men's and women's races, streamed around Australia. Stage 4 of the Santos Women's Tour Down Under was broadcast live, in conjunction with the Down Under Classic, representing for the first time that a women's race was seen live on free-to-air domestic television. It is something that we should build on in the future. Internationally, whilst we wait for the final TV broadcast distribution report, we know that the Tour Down Under was screened across 190 territories around the world into the homes of hundreds of millions of viewers. Further, it generated massive coverage across newspapers, magazines, websites and social media.

Mike Turtur has played an instrumental role in the creation of the race and has been race director since the inaugural race in 1999. Over the past 21 years, the Tour Down Under has grown from strength to strength under his direction. The decision to make the TDU Queen Stage at Willunga Hill as the grand finale for this year's event also added to the excitement of the race. I was at Willunga Hill and it was truly a spectacular finish. I would like to acknowledge Mike's vision and commitment to the race over the past 21 years, noting that he has announced that 2020 will be his last as race director. Mike is an important part of a much bigger team who lead and drive the Santos Tour Down Under, Australia's greatest cycling race.

One of the great successes of the 2019 TDU was the Santos Women's Tour Down Under, which continues to grow from strength to strength. We saw great racing and fantastic crowds across four days. I would like to congratulate women's race director, Kimberly Conte, and her event team for delivering another great race. I would also like to take this opportunity to formally acknowledge and congratulate the hardworking team at Events South Australia, the South Australian Tourism Commission, including Rodney Harrex and Hitaf Rasheed, and the TDU event manager, Ryan Healy.

Events like the Santos Tour Down Under do not just happen. They are delivered by individuals with passion who come together to work as a team to deliver world-class events. Despite sometimes trying weather conditions, the event team focused on what they do best, delivering an outstanding event for the people of South Australia and visitors to the state. I commend all involved for delivering another outstanding Tour Down Under, and look forward to seeing the event continue to grow in strength from year to year.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.