Labor vows to bring back Adelaide Motorsport Festival

Labor has promised it will bring back the popular Adelaide Motorsport Festival if it wins power.

Cars including Adelaide-era F1 cars head down Wakefield Street, as part of the 2018 Adelaide Motorsport Festival. Picture: Tom Huntley

A South Australian Labor government would reinstate funding for the popular Adelaide Motorsport Festival.

The event was cancelled in 2019 after the State Government pulled funding for the festival’s Victoria Park Sprint of rare and classic vehicles.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas on Wednesday promised to bring back the event if elected in 2022.

Crowds at the 2018 Adelaide Motorsport Festival at Victoria Park. Picture: Tom Huntley

“Only a few years ago we saw in SA the (festival) growing year on year, attracting visitors from all parts of the world to our state for a very small investment from the state government,” he said.

The festival started in 2014, and rapidly grew over the years attracting crowds of 50,000.

Mr Malinauskas said not funding the event was a “massive missed opportunity” in terms of jobs and growing the tourism industry.

Two months ago, the Opposition also vowed to bring back the Adelaide 500 if it wins power at the next election.

“The tourism sector has growth within it, but major events have to underpin that,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“The Marshall Liberal Government want to cut those events, I want to invest in them.”

At the time, the State Government cited a “$517 million GST writedown” as the reason for cutting the festival’s funding.

Last month, Premier Steven Marshall unveiled the Events Advisory Group, responsible for finding a raft of tourism drawcards after the V8 car race was scrapped.

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