Revealed: Taxpayer dollars spent on influencers for Adelaide car race
A host of influencers at the bp Adelaide Grand Final launch were paid thousands of dollars, including a MAFS star. The Motor Sport Board faced intense questioning today over its race plans.
The South Australian Motor Sport Board revealed that Tailem Bend was considered for MotoGP but “didn’t stack up”, board members facing a parliamentary committee said today under sustained questioning from the Liberal and Green parties.
It was also revealed that around $25,000 of taxpayers’ dollars paid for 11 influencers to attend a recent launch event for the bp Adelaide Grand Final, in the Statutory Authorities Review Committee.
Married at First Sight season 13 cast member Alissa Fay, with 122,000 Instagram followers was one of the creators that posted paid content for the race.
On the Adelaide Grand Final Instagram account, social content creators featured from the night included Ethan Fleetwood, who has 12,300 followers on Instagram, Tayla Relph, who has 68,700 followers and Chaad Hewitt, who has 996,000 followers.
Board chief executive Mark Warren said the campaign reached 1.2 million social media users, saying it was “quite effective as part of an overall campaign”.
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Today’s committee meeting was held in State Parliament’s Watarru Room, with evidence heard from Warren as well as SAMSB presiding member Andrew Daniels and head of business operations Melissa Mailler.
Prior to the hearing starting, more than 50 “Stop the Chop” protesters carrying signs with messages like “Mali must go” and “never again” gathered on the steps of Parliament House, with some also attending the session.
Protesters heard from Greens MLC Melanie Selwood and Adelaide Park Lands Association president Mat Monti, who claimed the government were “environmental vandals” over its plans for the MotoGP circuit and upgraded North Adelaide golf course.
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In the hearing, Warren said that The Bend Motorsport Park owner Yasser Shahin had been pushing for the event in Tailem Bend and was “instrumental” in bringing it to the state.
“Now MotoGP themselves looked at this, and they basically considered it for years, but it didn’t stack up,” he said.
Warren expected at least double Phillip Island’s average of 91,000 spectators to attend the event in Adelaide, saying “what Adelaide brings to an event as much as the event brings to Adelaide is it literally promotes everything Adelaide has to offer, and South Australia has to offer”.
The hearing also heard evidence of an email sent to the committee from the board’s head of business operation Mailler in July saying that SAMSB was “no longer responsible for the circuit redevelopment”, with that task now being managed by the state government’s Department for Infrastructure and Transport.
It comes as Premier Peter Malinauskas revealed the long-awaited plans on the weekend for the MotoGP track, with a $96 million redevelopment of the eastern Park Lands.
The MotoGP circuit is expected to require the removal of 377 trees, the government saying a majority are either “unregulated, invasive species, dead or in poor health”.
Of the hundreds of trees to be felled, 42 are classified as significant, with the government saying every tree removed would be replaced on a 10:1 basis.
There would also be a $15 million Adelaide Park Lands Nature Positive Package delivered alongside the project, with funding including butterfly habitat, support for the grey-headed flying fox and revitalising the River Torrens.
Alongside the 4.13 kilometre, 15-corner Adelaide Circuit upgrade, there would also be new and upgraded bike and walking tracks, as well as new sports courts.
The new track would be used for the MotoGP Grand Prix 2027, the bp Adelaide Grand Final and the Santos Tour Down Under Classic.
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