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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-05-12 Daily Xml
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SOCCER WORLD CUP

Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:37): What steps has the Premier taken to develop South Australia's sporting and tourism infrastructure? On 7 June 2006, the Premier stated that a planning team was needed 'not only to develop a bid but also plan for the infrastructure, facilities and security needed to host a 2014 World Cup, if only to establish our credentials to secure the 2018 World Cup finals'.

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) (14:37): I think you have to listen to previous questions and answers. I actually went—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Do you want to hear or don't you want to hear? This is the problem. If you want interject—make up your mind.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: What we did is that I went to see FIFA in Switzerland, basically to explore the nature of the potential bid process. I have met on a number of occasions with various people, including former prime minister John Howard. I have also spoken at COAG to other premiers and to the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, about the nature and extent of a bid to secure the World Cup.

Let me just tell you some of the nonsense that goes on. I had a visit a year or so ago (maybe last year) from an Adelaide soccer group. They came to see me and they presented to me a picture of a stadium. They pointed out this was not a stadium that would be shared with cricket or football. No, this was a brand new, purpose-built soccer stadium capable of handling the two preliminary World Cup games that we are likely to have.

It looked very much to me like the Frankfurt World Cup stadium. It was pointed out to me that it would need to have an opening and closing roof. I said, 'Hang on a minute. Soccer in Australia is a summer game, and it does not rain that much in winter.' Then it was put to me that we needed to buy the Clipsal factory site to have a training stadium there. The training stadium would be shared with Manchester United, who, by the way, I am tipping to win the UEFA Cup against Barcelona in a week or so.

The point of the matter is this: when I asked, 'Do you have any costings?', the answer was no. When I asked whether they had any plans, the answer was no. When I asked whether there was a marketing plan, a business plan, the answer was no. I guess I then asked the important question about the second stadium because I remember the former government building Hindmarsh Stadium, which was opened in time for the Olympic Games—a couple of games along the way there—and that was supposed to be—and it was sold to the public to be, and it was embraced by the soccer community to be—something that would stand the test of time for soccer in this state. Now they are saying they want a brand new purpose-built stadium, that would presumably cost around $450 million to $500 million, and then a second stadium, that would be a training stadium, that would be shared with Manchester United. By the way, I asked that question—

Mr PISONI: I have a point of order, Mr Speaker. The question was quite specific. It was about what the Premier has done to develop South Australia's sporting and tourism infrastructure. It was not about what others have proposed, but what the Premier has done.

The SPEAKER: Actually, the question was very general, so the Premier is in order. Premier.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Thank you. So I then asked that question: how does Manchester United feel about this stadium down at the site—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Manchester or Adelaide?

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Manchester United's stadium down under. I asked, 'Have you discussed this with Manchester United?' Answer no. It is interesting if that is the kind of presentation that is put to the opposition and they say, 'You beauty, we'll buy this one, let's announce it today.' What they put to me was: this will make you very popular. I thought: yes, it is going to make me very popular with taxpayers in this state to fork out this amount of money.

What have we done? We have made a big commitment to Adelaide Oval. We have made commitments along the way and paid for improvements at AAMI Stadium. We have put money into netball and countless other sports in this state. We secured world Pro Tour status—the first place outside Europe in history ever to secure Pro Tour status—and we were up, I am told, against California, Beijing and, also, Russia. Of course, we made that even bigger because we then secured Lance Armstrong to race here and make his comeback into world sport to give us five times more publicity than when we achieved Pro Tour status.

However, the point of the matter is—and I send this message clearly to the opposition—that you cannot promise everything to everyone who comes along. You cannot be reckless with the public purse. You cannot tell everyone what they want to hear and believe everyone who comes through your door.

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