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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-10-17 Daily Xml
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Adelaide 500

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:03): My question is also to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment with regard to the Adelaide 500. Can the minister inform this council:

1. What will be the financial impact on both tourists and ticket sales, being the differential between the proposed changed dates for the Adelaide 500 from March to January beginning in 2020?

2. What communications has the minister had with regard to this race?

3. Will there be any cost associated with construction in the Parklands over the January period that would be different to the March period?

4. What consultation will take place with the local residents and businesses of the city if the race is moved to January?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:04): I thank the honourable member for her question and her ongoing keen interest in motorsport in South Australia. This was an article that was featured in The Advertiser just recently stating that Supercars are talking about a change of time. There has been no formal approach to the South Australian Tourism Commission from Supercars about doing it. They are just exploring options at this point.

As I said, there have been some informal discussions. There is certainly no intention at this stage for a definite change; it is just they are exploring it. From my recollection from reading the article, the Supercars want to have a winter break. They are trying to look to have a season that's late summer, autumn and then a bit of a break and then spring and early summer. Something that is pretty important to us in South Australia is to maintain the first race of the season. Clearly, any change to the timing would create some problems. I think we would all be concerned with the clash between the Tour Down Under, if that was to happen, and the Adelaide 500.

There has been a newspaper article published saying that, yes, Supercars are looking at options to refresh and modernise. I think anybody who has a big event always likes to look at ways that they can refresh them or make a different offering. It's very preliminary discussions. Certainly, with the contract in place to 2021, as members would know, the South Australian government, through the Tourism Commission and our major events arm, is having very preliminary soundings, if you like, from Supercars. We will certainly not be doing anything that puts any of our existing events at risk. As the member is concerned about construction of the grandstands in the Parklands over Christmas, as we know, the construction starts in late November and goes right across that period. I think all members—

The Hon. T.A. Franks interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I couldn't hear that interjection. The Tourism Commission and the team are making sure that we don't compromise. I think they would be very proud of the Tour Down Under. The Tour Down under is the largest cycling race in the Southern Hemisphere. It's a very important part of our events calendar and something that we should be very proud of.

Likewise, the Adelaide 500 is one of the leading motorsport festivals in the world and we want to make sure that that is still celebrated and enjoyed by those who enjoy it, but there are no plans at this point. It's just very preliminary soundings by Supercars to see what the appetite is to potentially change. As I said, the Tour Down Under and what we have in the first race of the season for Supercars are important, but certainly there are no decisions and no plans to have an early summer or late summer race in Adelaide.

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