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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-02 Daily Xml
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SPORTING EVENTS

Ms PORTOLESI (Hartley) (14:27): My question is to the Premier. Can he update the house about the next international sporting event to be hosted in Adelaide?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:27): Now here is one on which the Leader of the Opposition and I might agree with.

Mr Hamilton-Smith: Possibly.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: It would be fantastic, wouldn't it, to see just one thing that he supports in this state?

Mr Pengilly: No, I wouldn't count on it.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: He said he would not count on it. Neither would we. Do not count on it! What an indictment of his leader, because he is against everything. We get a record jobs figure: he is up in his office absolutely on his nervous edge because he knows that is good news.

Mr Pengilly: Why don't you tell us what it's all about?

The Hon. M.D. RANN: You made the interjection. You are the one who dobbed the leader in. Do not count on his supporting a sporting event! Okay! With friends like that, who needs supporters?

Already this year, Adelaide has hosted some phenomenal sporting events. In January we held the hugely successful Tour Down Under. The Tour Down Under was attacked by the other side; I acknowledge that. There is a real partisan divide. If you like the Tour Down Under, vote Labor. If you agree with Duncan McFetridge, then you oppose the Tour Down Under—the first ProTour event ever to be held outside Europe. Then we had the biggest and best ever Clipsal 500, with record crowds. I pay tribute to the Deputy Premier, who is the minister for motor sport; and I guess everyone knows that, whilst he is more Jimmy Barnes and I am more WOMAD, we are both petrol heads from way back.

Only last weekend, for the first time, Glenelg—and wait for the local member: it would really be nice to hear him support an event in Glenelg—hosted the beach volleyball world tour, with Moseley Square turning into a world class volleyball stadium. I congratulate Brazil. It was great to meet the Brazilian team. The Brazilian men won and the Chinese were second. But in the women's beach volleyball competition, No. 1 was Brazil, No. 2 was Brazil and No. 3 was Brazil. The feedback from all the beach volleyballers I met is that they just loved it here in Adelaide. I am sure it will build a massive worldwide audience.

Last night, I joined with the Minister for Tourism, Australian Sevens assistant coaches and ambassadors, David Campese—for the benefit of those opposite, the world-famous Wallaby rugby player—Mark Ella, and all 16 team captains up on the hill for the launch of the International Rugby Sevens. The Colonel Light statue—and everyone knows that I share Light's vision—formed the centrepiece of a laser lights display which illuminated Adelaide Oval to mark the beginning of a week-long rugby festival in the city. I attended the Sevens last year and it was one of the great carnival atmospheres. There is a new match every 22 minutes with 45 matches over the week. There are those of us who have played rugby union and know that the member for Newland represented Australia. Where did you represent Australia?

Mr Kenyon: Parliamentary team.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: The Australian parliamentary team. Where?

Mr Kenyon: In France.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: In France. I played for the Mangakino Primary School rugby team and then played at Matamata. I did not exactly play for Waikato, but I played in the Waikato, and I am delighted that I will be there at the weekend. Sixteen teams are participating, including the top 12 ranked countries and four invitational teams.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I heard that interjection from one of my colleagues, and the fact is that I was the last one chosen for the team, but it was often that they left the best till last. The tournament is not just for fans of rugby union. Its fast-paced style and carnival atmosphere make a great outing for anyone. We can head down to Adelaide Oval on Saturday and Sunday to see teams, including France, the world champions; New Zealand, the current world champions who just last weekend won in Hong Kong; South Africa; Tonga; Fiji; England; Argentina, and many others. It is being broadcast to over 200 million people worldwide, and I am told that the inaugural Adelaide event saw 175 hours of coverage. With that sort of audience seeing our picture postcard Adelaide Oval, it is the sort of tourism advertising for our state that money cannot buy.

Last year's event attracted more than 25,000 fans, and this year, I am told, organisers are on track to meet their target of a crowd of 30,000, and already about 18,000 tickets have been presold, with more than 3,500 interstate and overseas rugby fans coming to Adelaide. Fans from as far afield as Edmonton and Toronto in Canada, Suva in Fiji, Cork in Ireland, San Diego in the United States and also, of course, Christchurch and Auckland, Singapore, and every state in Australia, are coming to our rugby festival this weekend.

We expect to keep the event growing. From memory, I think we beat Singapore to win the rights to stage this event. I urge bipartisan support and, who knows, rather than just an annual cricket match, we might even have a Liberal/Labor rugby match, which is where the headlock might come in order.

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