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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-09-23 Daily Xml
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Tour Down Under

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (14:11): I seek to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I am pleased to confirm today the Santos Tour Down Under's future as a Union Cycliste International (UCI) WorldTour event has been assured. The state government received the news overnight that UCI Brian Cookson and the UCI Management Committee had approved the TDU's place as part of the global reform of world cycling at a meeting in the United States.

The Santos Tour Down Under is a fully fledged sporting and tourism success story, and today's announcement gives us certainty it will continue to be a UCI WorldTour event which will remain at the start of the WorldTour calendar in January. The Tour Down Under is a huge success story for South Australia, and we work hard each year to grow the event and the festival we have created around the race to ensure it remains appealing and attracts more spectators.

This year's race contributed almost $50 million to the state's visitor economy, with a record crowd of 786,000 people—more than 37,000 of those people travelled here from interstate and overseas just to attend the race. They created the equivalent of 600 full-time jobs for South Australia. In this year's state budget the government committed a further $6 million over four years to ensure the Tour Down Under continues to be the biggest and best cycling race outside of Europe.

There has been much discussion about the future of our great race during the UCI's two-year review, and I have worked closely with the Vice President of the UCI and head of the Oceanian Cycling Confederation, Tracey Gaudry and Brian Cookson, to ensure this brilliant result for the state, and I thank them very much for their continued support of South Australia and the Santos Tour Down Under. Tracey Gaudry said a global perspective was at the heart of the lengthy consultation process, which has now confirmed the Santos Tour Down Under as the season opener in the Men's WorldTour and cements the event's rightful place at the pinnacle of world cycling.

Mr Speaker, I am pleased to share this news with the house today, and assure you the government is committed to the growth of the visitor economy, the growth of the sport—including women's cycling—and the growth of the Santos Tour Down Under. I would like to thank Race Director Mike Turtur and the Events South Australia team, headed up by Hitaf Rasheed, for all their hard work.

I have been fortunate to be involved in every Tour Down Under since the very first race back in 1999. This government took a very good event to the elite level, resulting in a huge increase in international interest, massive crowds and growing tourism numbers. With today's fantastic news we invite the world to come to Adelaide to see our race, enjoy the start of the UCI WorldTour, our wonderful festival of cycling and all that South Australia has to offer. The Santos Tour Down Under will be held from 16 to 24 January 2016.

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