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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-05-12 Daily Xml
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Coronavirus Restrictions

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing. Can the minister update the house on the Marshall Liberal government's Roadmap for Easing COVID-19 Restrictions in respect of elite sport?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:41): I thank the member for Colton for his interest and it's probably no surprise that he has an interest in elite sports, given that he was an elite sporting athlete. Is he still an elite sporting athlete? That's the question we are going to ask and we might find out in a few moments' time. As we said, I must profess he was Australia's finest ever Paralympic athlete and it is a pleasure to have him on our side of this house and doing wonderful work in his community.

Again, it is so important to get sport back. We have talked about community sport but elite sport as well is very important to our state, a big part of our fabric, and a big opportunity for our economy as well because getting sport happening and getting sporting events happening in South Australia is something we do want to work our way back to. As we look to the opportunities that present here for South Australia, being one of the safest places in the world and widely recognised as that, South Australia is probably the best place you would want to be right now if you are an elite athlete and you are wanting to train, in particular for the Tokyo Olympics.

What we did, before any other place in the country, and before many other places in the world—in fact, we could have been the first in the world to do this—is we got our elite swimmers back in the pool. It's probably at this point that the member for Colton would like me to note that it's the Matt Cowdrey Pool, and they were back in there training. The likes of Kyle Chalmers had their Tokyo dream for 2020 put on ice because of COVID-19; now it's Tokyo 2021, and they are very focused on delivering on that. Peter Bishop, of course, the coach of Kyle Chalmers, a wonderful swimming coach, was very keen to see his troops get back in the pool.

We were able to do that with the help of Dr Nicola Spurrier, who is leading Health for South Australia, and the decisions that we are making around that along with the police commissioner, and we were able to get our elite swimmers back in the pool. So they have a great advantage as they prepare for the Tokyo Olympics next year. Speaking to some of the swimmers offline, in fact Kyle Chalmers himself is very aware that he couldn't be doing this, they couldn't be doing this, if it wasn't for the great work of South Australians to enable that to happen, because they have been following the rules and doing such an outstanding job. As he said, any medal he may be able to win or his teammates may be able to win at the Tokyo Olympics would be very much a medal for South Australia, so we look forward to the swimmers going over there and doing a wonderful job. Our elite divers got back in the pool as well. So our elite athletes are back on track for the Tokyo Olympics, which is wonderful to see.

The other thing people are asking about is the AFL and we are working towards our part in getting the AFL back. By way of information, the AHPPC has set up a subcommittee for elite sports, and that's happening through the national cabinet. Representing South Australia on that is Dr Nicola Spurrier, so she is taking the advice and working with those national bodies to work out how we can get that sport back, and we are really keen to see that happen.

Again, South Australia is in the best possible position as far as being one of the safest states or safest locations in the world and we should be very, very proud of that. South Australia has this position now, because of that safety and that great work, to be the new home of sport, in Australia at least and potentially for the rest of the world, and has a great opportunity to create jobs and deliver the dreams of athletes. We are really focused on doing all we can in that area.

I mentioned the SANFL as well; the semi-professional league are looking to get back. They have made a decision that their players won't be paid this year. They are very focused on getting them back on the park and making sure they have that competition running. They have done a really good job. They started back this week, but they have started back slowly, making sure that all the officials and people around the clubs understand how to work in this new COVID-19 world and making sure that they are following all the right regimes: making sure they are doing the handwashing, keeping their hygiene up and also following the social distancing protocols. All in all, sport has done an outstanding job, but having elite sport back ahead of the rest of the country, ahead of the rest of the world, is a real tick in the box for South Australia.

The SPEAKER: I am going to allow one supplementary and then I am going to switch to the member for Florey. Is there a supplementary?

Mr PICTON: A new question.

The SPEAKER: A new question and then the member for Florey. Question No. 21 for the opposition.

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