Adelaide Lightning

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:58): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing regarding Adelaide Lightning.

Leave granted.

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: The Women's National Basketball League now owns Adelaide Lightning, with the state government sponsoring the new consortium at $571,000 each year for three years. My questions to the minister are:

1. If the WNBL sells Adelaide Lightning to a private enterprise, will the government continue to support this enterprise with taxpayer funding?

2. Is part of the $1.713 million, in-kind and financial, over three years not new money but in fact previously committed funding through the THINK! Road Safety program?

3. In providing the Adelaide Lightning training facilities at the newly built SASI headquarters at Mile End, will this disadvantage other programs that were already using the facilities, including Adelaide 36ers, SASI development programs, wheelchair sport and volleyball, not to mention previously preventing the soon-to-be homeless Adelaide Thunderbirds from having a closely located training venue as well?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Autism, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:59): I thank the honourable member for her question, and I hope the opposition aren't suggesting that we shouldn't have stepped in to provide support to save our only women's basketball team in South Australia.

It is a really important thing to have a women's basketball team. It is one of those things where, if you take away the aspiration of where you can get to in sport, it makes it harder for the young ones on the side to think that 'One day, too, I can be on the court and represent my state.' As a government, we were really proud to be able to step in and provide that support and do it in a timely manner, and to be able to guarantee that the success of that team could continue, also with the name of Lightning.

In regard to the support that we provided, funding of $100,000 was provided. One component of that was to make sure that we are not just investing in the success of the players on the court but also investing in the grassroots commitment that comes with that, so that they are putting effort back into training up and inspiring younger ones through community activities. This is something that we have seen as a legacy with our investments in sport. We saw it with the Matildas when they came here and we invested in a grant funding program for them as well so that grassroots sport was being invested through the Power of Her. I feel this is a good legacy to be leaving when we invest in our sporting codes and that there is something there for the grassroots to also be able to thrive.