Hurley and Billabong this morning announced joint sponsorship of the Australian Open of Surfing to be held at Manly from February 11 to 19. The Australian Open will be a six star event and have a total prize pool of $500 000.

There's a few things we can take from the unlikely alliance between the two major brands. The first is probably best summed up by the adage 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. With Quiksilver and Rip Curl holding the only two available Australian World Tour licences, Hurley and Billabong have joined forces to challenge their domination of the Australian leg. And if all goes to plan they may well trump both other events in the all-important media exposure stakes. Important to the marketing folk and bean counters at least.

In business terms it's a bold and combative move. According to one ex-world champ I spoke to Hurley's involvement in the Australian Open ends the 'cultural exploitation of our sport by the established surfing mafia'. He was very happy to see the grip of the surfing mafia loosened, and he had no reservations about Hurley, and by extension Nike, entering the market. 'It's about time things were shaken up and other people had opportunities.'

The other thing to note is that by planning a major surf competition at a city beach the dreams of many pro tour fans are again dashed. Granted the Australian Open is not a World Tour event but the internet commentariat are already bemoaning the lack of one less quality venue. On the flip side is the opportunity for interaction with pro surfers – both on land and in the water – that kids can't get through a webcast.

There was a lot of talk about kids at the press conference. Giving kids a chance to 'touch the surface' as one speaker said, and to meet their heroes and express themselves through the art and fashion shows that will also feature at the competition. These are a mere diversion as far as I'm concerned: art should never bear a logo and fashion is for vain and superficial people who can't create any other meaning in their lives. No, I won't be attending any 'shows' at the Australian Open.

But I believe there is merit in holding surfing competitions – not World Tour events – in metro areas. If only for the fact that when I was grom I was thrilled to watch top tier events live and kids of this era shouldn't be denied that same opportunity.

Following the press conference I had a short chat to Bob Hurley about the Australian Open and also the state of the Dream Tour.

You've got the US Open and now the Australian Open, are there plans for further events, a European Open for example, or a South American one? We talked about it but there's only so much you can do at a time, right? This is a big stretch for us to do but if further events can happen, then yeah, that'd be amazing.

Does Hurley have any plans to sponsor a World Tour event? Not right now. That would be nice. I think there's a lot of validity to the Australian Open and the US Open of Surfing being a World Tour event. But that's more up to Pat O'Connell [head of marketing at Hurley] and Brodie Carr.

Yesterday it was 16 years since Kelly Slater won the 1995 Quiksilver Pro at Grajagan... Really? 16 years? That was an awesome competition.

Yeah, it was...that competition was the first competition without spectators and also the one that set the Dream Tour in motion. So is the Australian Open a further step away from the Dream Tour ideals? On the Dream Tour you've got all these really great events and I think they're very important. I worry about there being too many events in waves that aren't that good. So I don't want to lose that - I think for surfing quality waves are very important. Yet, like I said I think there's a lot of validity to the Australian and the US Opens, and for many reasons, not the great waves....but, you know, we might get great waves.

The competitions should be complementary to each other. There should be a balance. I think the Dream Tour concept that Rabbit initiated is still the most important thing. But then you've also got to be practical. You know, let's stimulate a community. Let's get kids involved.

"The kids will have their say", that was something you said just after launching Hurley. It sounds like that is still the case. Absolutely. Our whole mantra is 'microphone for youth'. My passion is to let the kids take over, at whatever age they may be. You know, I meet kids on the streets around my home and I'm like, "Dude, you could be in charge". I want all these kids to come here going "If a dumb guy like Bob Hurley can do it, then I can do it!" And you know they'll make it better. I have so much belief in them.