After six months of searching organisers have failed to find a sponsor for the V8 Supercar street race. The official launch is just a week away. The race is on over the June long weekend.
Ordinarily it would not matter much if the promoter of a special event failed to get a sponsor, but in this instance it is quite worrying. This is because the ACT Government has contracted with AVESCO the company that runs V8 Supercar racing to run the race for five years. This year is the third. If the contract is terminated prematurely, AVESCO would get a multi-million dollar pay-out, but the precise terms are unknown.
The race costs about $9 million. The ACT Government provides around $4 million each year and the rest comes from ticket sales and sponsorships. If a naming rights sponsor is not found, there will be a further shortfall of $500,000. Last year there was a shortfall of about $1.2 million because of a decline in ticket sales – the exact liability of the Government to pick up the shortfall is unknown. But it seems as if the ACT taxpayer is up for a minimum $4 million a year and a maximum of perhaps $6 million a year over the next three years.
At a time of budgetary constraints at the Canberra Hospital and in mental health and at a time when Treasurer Ted Quinlan says he will be struggling to maintain a Budget balance or surplus without further cuts in public sector employment or programs, this outlay on a car race seems very difficult to justify.
It is not use Mr Quinlan or other members of the Government laying the blame at the foot of the previous Government because at the time the race was first mooted, Labor was in favour.
Now, it may well be that the spending of up to $26 million over five years is justified. It may well be that the Government’s contribution is valuable seed money that will result in valuable interstate visitors who will spend money in Canberra and valuable publicity for the city. But the trouble is, the ordinary taxpayers will never know because so may of the contract arrangements have been hidden under the that snuffler of public accountability called commercial in confidence. Moreover, there has been a great reluctance by race promoters to open the books.
If the race is so valuable to the city, organisers and the government should be proud of the fact and make the details of the benefits public. Moreover, is the race is such a commercial boom to the city, it seems odd that none of the businesses that will reap the benefit are keen to be the major sponsor.
The citizens of Canberra are shelling out a lot of money and putting up with a lot of inconvenience over the race. Fortunately, the organisers are getting better at setting up and dismantling the race infrastructure so the inconvenience is reducing. But the finances remain a matter of concern.
The answer must be to lift the secrecy. Until that happens, many Canberrans will be rightly suspicious that their money is going to car-racing not health, education and police without any prospect of getting a reasonable return.
Governments do have a role in sponsoring sport, spectacles and the arts, but they should be open about the way they do it and what their liabilities are. It is terrific to have major events that attract people to Canberra and get Canberrans out and about – but not at any cost and certainly not at a secret cost.