Southern Metropolitan Region
Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:40): (109) My question is for the minister representing the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events. Next Thursday the 2023 grand prix will begin, marking its 27th year impacting Albert Park – 27 years of public spending on an event with opaque decision-making and sparse community consultation. Every single year the grand prix has run at a net loss, relying on the government to prop it up with taxpayer money. To date, in under three decades, successive Victorian governments have spent over $890 million on this event. To put it in perspective, this government found $80 million to spend on the 2022 grand prix but only promised a quarter of that amount for the adaptation and resilience of coastal communities across the entire state. Close to $1 billion of public money has been given to the grand prix. If the government believes spending on it delivers a net positive value, will it demonstrate this by finally funding a post-event cost-benefit analysis, as community activists in Albert Park have requested for years?