Superloop Adelaide 500

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:19): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment regarding Superloop 500.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.T. NGO: The SATC has a contract with the Supercars Championship that guarantees South Australia the first race of the season until 2021. Since its inception the race has injected more than $600 million into the state's economy. My questions to the minister are:

1. Has the government started negotiations to renew the contract?

2. Has the minister made any representation to Supercars to advocate for an ongoing commitment beyond 2021?

3. Will the SATC's $23 million of budget cuts affect its capacity to run the event in the future?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:21): I thank the honourable member for his ongoing interest in Supercar racing, which, as we all know, was originally the Clipsal, a Liberal event. Just quickly, we know that we have the contract until 2021. My understanding is that the contract talks about the two parties, being originally the Motorsport Board but now EventsSA and the SATC, post the 2020 event must start the negotiations to then have an event beyond 2021. I think some preliminary discussions have already taken place. It is a great event. We know it injects a huge amount of money into the South Australian economy and every year it gets bigger and better.

The honourable member referred to some budget cuts. They clearly have not had any impact because last year's Superloop 500 was the biggest event this state has ever seen. It is the biggest ticketed motorsport event in the nation. We just saw the Bathurst event on the weekend; it's bigger than Bathurst. It's something that this state should be very proud of.