New Riverbank Arena will mean SA doesn’t miss out on major events ever again

One of the iron laws of politics is to keep people happy. Yes, with bread – jobs and growth – but we also need a circus once in a while. This new arena is that.

Why does Rome have a Colosseum?

Back in the old, old days, before we had MasterChef to entertain the masses, the people of Rome needed to be kept occupied.

When they weren’t occupied they became scratchy and irritable and might take out their frustrations by, for example, suffocating the Emperor. Hence the Colosseum, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was constructed to host entertainment for the citizens of Rome.

Our Roman forebears took these circuses to the extreme. Gladiators fought to the death, while unfortunate and unlucky early Christians were eaten by a lion or crushed by a monstrous python.

Thankfully, those particular atrocities are no longer on offer. The Colosseum stands as an ancient ruin, reminding us of one of the iron laws of politics – keep the people happy.

The other necessary ingredient of political longevity hatched in Rome was the need for bread. In other words, keep the citizens fed.

A starving population are very likely to rise up and replace the regime meant to keep their bellies full.

The King and Queen of France, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, paid a high price for disregarding this maxim – they were both beheaded.

That’s why those who are fortunate to be taught modern European history at school will recognise the phrase “why can’t they eat cake”, supposedly uttered by Marie Antoinette when the Parisians were rioting at the Versailles Palace demanding bread. It’s likely to be an apocryphal story, but the Queen’s head was separated from her body nonetheless!

In our own era, these iron laws have become modernised.

For bread, read jobs and growth. For circuses, read new infrastructure. They are inextricably linked.

When the South Australian state elections became fixed every four years on the third Saturday in March, a then state minister helpfully explained to me that March was the best month in the calendar for an SA election because the voting population was likely to be in a good frame of mind.

The Tour Down Under occurs in January followed by the Fringe, the Festival, Womadelaide and what we South Australians call Mad March.

There are many visitors. Family and friends visit from interstate and, until recently, overseas. The restaurants, hotels, cafes and venues are full. People spend time socialising and are happier than in say July, when it’s cold and bleak.

I was excited last week to see the announcement of a planned Riverbank Arena.

An artist’s impression of the new Torrens Riverbank arena.

It is long overdue. The Entertainment Centre is fine as far as it goes, but I always felt it could have been bigger and better.

Still, unlike many, I am excited by the possibilities presented by grand new developments.

Whether it’s the Osborne Shipyard building Australia’s fleet of submarines, anti-submarine warfare frigates and maintaining the Collins Class submarines, or infrastructure such as the North-South Corridor and Adelaide Oval – all of these visionary projects are change agents for our state.

They create jobs, economic growth and keep businesses in business. To quote former president Donald Trump, which I have never done before, “it’s a beautiful thing”. The Riverbank Arena is an inspired investment by the Marshall government.

The $700m price tag will largely be ploughed back into the South Australian economy. Post the pandemic, it guarantees a pipeline of infrastructure investment for the next five years. That means jobs.

The Riverbank Precinct – created by the Hall Liberal government in the late 1960s, supported by the Dunstan Labor government in the 1970s and then by subsequent governments of both political persuasions – has become the entertainment, sporting and convention centrepiece of our city.

What surprises me, is how well the entire area has been integrated, right down to the new Lang Walker Corporation development between the Festival Centre and Parliament House. Right along the Torrens, our city’s assets have taken shape.

The Riverbank Arena is the latest. It will enormously assist the capacity of the Adelaide Convention Centre with a tunnel under the Morphett Street bridge.

Readers will know there was no greater advocate for Adelaide when I was defence minister, but I couldn’t save the Army’s Land Forces conference moving to Brisbane from Adelaide, despite the Chief of the Army, Lieutenant General Rick Burr, being born in the Riverland, because it had grown so large it needed a venue larger than the Adelaide Convention Centre to hold it.

When the Riverbank Arena is complete, that will never happen again.

Often, Adelaide has missed out on the biggest tours of musicians and other productions because the promoters could not source a venue big enough to make a profit.

That will not be the case in the future. We won’t have to endure the embarrassment of radio presenters conducting “bring such and such to Adelaide by signing our petition” campaigns, which has always made me cringe.

This is unadulterated good news.

The usual suspects will criticise the Riverland Arena. No doubt the Parklands Preservation Society will want to return the area to pristine scrub as it was in 1836, but the silent majority will be cheering.

As the not so silent majority, I am.