Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a hot Sunday in March, around 10,000 people attended a display in Port Adelaide of Adelaide based drag-racing vehicles. This remarkable turnout to a display of these cars when they were not even moving shows how desperate we in Adelaide are to get a national drag-racing facility built in our city. The sad fact is that the many thousands of drag-racing enthusiasts in Adelaide have been unable to attend live drag-racing of any significance for almost a decade. At the same time, we have seen drag-racing go from strength to strength in Western Sydney, in Perth and in Ipswich in Brisbane, as well as in some smaller centres such as the Hidden Valley drag strip in Darwin, which is strongly supported by my colleague the member for Solomon.

I speak today on this issue to pay tribute to the persistence of the Australian National Drag-Racing Association, ANDRA, in their campaign to get a national drag strip in Adelaide. It is a campaign that I strongly support and one that has been driven by some committed businessmen and drag-racing enthusiasts, otherwise known as petrolheads. ANDRA is delegated by CAMS, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, to control drag-racing in Australia. In order to attract the best teams to national events held in Adelaide, it seems to me fairly obvious that a drag strip in Adelaide should have its sanction.

A new ANDRA venue in Adelaide would be able to offer up to 70 organised events each year. Those events could include six national open events, at least four of which would have national significance, and one of which would be a major national championship event, attracting the major teams from all around Australia. In between those events, ANDRA would be able to hold lower level competition racing and regular off-street legal drag-racing to cater for local youth.

Experience from other states is that these events provide local youth with the opportunity to race in a safe and secure environment rather than engaging in illegal drags on our public roads. That has been the experience in Darwin, with the Beat the Heat off-street program at Hidden Valley. It is an experience advocated strongly by the police in Western Sydney. I have received correspondence from the sergeant of the Blacktown traffic services, based in that area, where he says:

With the introduction of the Wednesday off street meets at Western Sydney International Dragway, the instances of illegal street racing within the Blacktown LGA has been non existent for the reason that the participants of these illegal street meets have a place to attend and participate safely in their chosen sport ...

It is also clear that the establishment of a national drag strip in Adelaide would have significant economic and tourism benefits for our state. On average, attendance at ANDRA national championships ranges around Australia from 25,000 to 35,000—and these extend to up to three to four days. The time has come to bring off-street drag-racing back to Adelaide. I have read the blogs on the internet that show thousands of South Australians queuing up to fill a national drag strip. I will do all that I can do to support them and the thousands of South Australians who love the smell of burning rubber. (Time expired)