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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-28 Daily Xml
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TOUR DOWN UNDER

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:33): I rise today to congratulate all those involved in this year's Tour Down Under, the first Tour Down Under under the International Cycling Union's Pro Tour—and what a success it was. There is no need to take my word for it. Phil Latz, the founding editor of Bicycling Australia magazine said:

It's one thing to predict that Pro Tour status would lift the TDU to another level, but it's another to see it actually happen. Several foreign journalists and team directors I spoke to said it's the best organised race of the year.

Earlier today we heard some statistics from the Minister for Tourism, and I would like to add some anecdotal evidence to those statistics. One is that the total attendance was up 53.5 per cent to 548,000 people at the 2008 Tour Down Under as opposed to the 2007 Tour Down Under—and I know that in the electorate of Mawson (the Saturday stage started at Willunga and went through McLaren Vale and Aldinga) huge crowds lined the route in numbers that we had not seen in the previous nine years of the event.

Total visitors to the state who attended the Tour Down Under was 21,000, and that is up by 30.4 per cent. I had a mate from Melbourne who stayed with me and, during his stay, we certainly contributed to the economy of South Australia. He also joined me in the Breakaway ride, the 74 kilometre ride from Woodside to Strathalbyn—and what a fantastic event that was.

There were people of all shapes and sizes doing the Mutual Community Challenge Tour. I rode for a while with Melvin Mansell, the editor of The Advertiser. What a proud moment it was for him to see all those riders with The Advertiser logo on their jerseys. It was great to see the support from The Advertiser for this wonderful event, not just for the Mutual Community Challenge Tour but also the promotion that newspaper gives to the entire Tour Down Under. The number of visitors specifically attending the Tour Down Under was up 43.8 per cent; that is, 15,100 people from interstate and overseas who came here specifically because of the Tour Down Under.

The weekend before the tour started, I rode from Aldinga to North Adelaide and then back to Aldinga, and the number of extra riders out on the road was unbelievable. It was unbelievable to see so many people on that fantastic veloway that runs alongside the Southern Expressway. It was amazing.

When I reached North Adelaide, I came across some people outside the Lion Hotel. There were 55 of them each wearing a jersey I did not recognise. I went up to one of them and said, 'What are you guys doing?' They replied, 'We are here from Brisbane.' There were 55 of them from Brisbane, and they were spending nine or 10 days here. One of the guys said, 'I've never been to Adelaide. I've never had any inclination at all to come to Adelaide, but a group of us have come down from Brisbane specifically to see the Tour Down Under. We're riding 100 kilometres a day, we are seeing every start and finish and every stage along the way.' You cannot tell me that those 55 people from Brisbane, plus the other 15,000 or so from interstate and overseas, did not have a huge impact on our economy.

There seemed to be only a couple of people who thought it was not a great event, one being a journalist for the Sunday Mail. As a former cycling journalist who covered the 1994 World Championships in Palermo, Sicily; the 1995 World Cycling Championships in Bogota, Colombia; the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada; the 2000 Olympics in Sydney; and the Tour de France in 1999; plus many other stage races through Switzerland and Italy, I must say that I have never heard of this journalist from the Sunday Mail who questioned whether it was a B-grade event.

But the member for Morphett jumped straight on the bandwagon, even though he was advised earlier that this was a great race and that the top teams from around the world were all here. There is an article in the Bicycling Australia magazine by Greg Griffiths, who, as well as being a correspondent for the magazine, is also a commissaire who has followed international cycling for 35 years. Under the headline 'Ignorant criticism' he unloads on Dr Duncan McFetridge. He says:

Dr McFetridge questioned me regarding the validity of the event, the quality of the competitors, the value for money to South Australia, and the absence of 'the stars' [and so on].

This gentleman told the member for Morphett that was untrue and that this was, in fact, one of the great events in the world. He said that he would get that information to him. He said:

However on ABC Radio on Monday 28 January, McFetridge let rip on the Tour Down Under, calling it a B grade event and insinuating that it wasn't value for money for South Australia.

Unfortunately, Dr McFetridge did not wait for Mr Griffiths' evidence to be sent to him. I think it is a disgrace that the Liberals in this place—the people who lost us the Formula One Grand Prix—are now talking down one of the great events in world cycling.

Time expired.

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