Bathurst asks federal support

[fpv_gtho]

Bathurst issues ultimatum
By Bob Jennings
Wednesday March 10 2004

The Bathurst City Council says it can't complete the work it has already started on upgrading the Mount Panorama motor racing circuit to international standards unless there is assistance from the Federal Government.
It says that after three years of discussions, it has asked for a final yes or no decision on whether the government will provide the $10 million required to complete the facilities.

The NSW government has already provided $10 million and the former pit, corporate and media buildings have been demolished. Construction has begun on the new facilities at the circuit, which is owned by the council.

According to the Bathurst Mayor, Ian Macintosh., "the situation is now critical" and that without Federal Government financial support, Australia would run the risk of losing major motor racing events such as the Bathurst 1000 and the Bathurst 24-hour touring car races.

"Recognised and revered worldwide, Mt Panorama has hosted motor racing events every year for over 50 years, without Federal Government financial support," said Mr Macintosh. "It generates at least 1200 jobs and contributes around $100 million annually to the Australian economy."

He claimed the annual Bathurst 1000 rated as one of Australia's top four television sporting events with around two million viewers.


advertisement

advertisement
"The effect on the Australian tourist industry and the loss to Australian motor sport fans would be an enormous catastrophe for the local economy and would be almost impossible to replace," he said, pointing out that with new circuits being developed in China, Malaysia and Bahrain were capable of hosting events like the ones at Bathurst.

-----------------------------------


is the government really that stupid theyre willing to risk losing such an icon, all when they can fix the quarrel by handing over 10 million? i mean they've probably pulled more out of the health system to supplement spending big on defense. post 9/11, which to be honest, i cant see where its being spent

[motorsportnerd]

If I had to make a choice, I'd rather see the $10 million spent on health or education over either motorsport or defence, seeing as health and education spending have a greater benefit to the greater number of people. However this isn't a politics forum, so I'll just agree that it would be a shame if Bathurst was lost over a piddling $10 million...
Don't worry... everyone will come to their senses. Bathurst has survived the Super Touring/Supercar split, Tony Cochrane's threats to take the race elsewhere, safety dramas following fatal accidents and sponsorship dramas in the past. Each time the newspapers (especially the motoring press) wrote headlines about how Bathurst could be lost... People love to read shock horror headlines and I believe these stories are often exagerated to sell newspapers.

[Falcon500]

Very truwe indeed i was willing to hold off....but i think thats not the whole story as nerd here pointed out....But i really dont think the goverment would let that happen...likewise i doubt mr cokrin would either....he might notice a very very sharp decline in rateings if he did.

[fpv_gtho]

Cochrane would be a friggin idiot to even try and attempt to take it elsewhere. the only other track in australia he would have any chance of getting 50% of the ratings bathurst gets is Phillip Island. the bathurst weekend would easily generate back that 10million invested so i dont see why the government are still scratching their heads. probably cause of the bloody elections coming up

[MyRx7]

10 million would be well spent on bathurst.
as i heard on the radio they make approx 100million year from tourism etc.
this would be a wise investment.

[fpv_gtho]

well as its been said before, the bathurst 1000 weekend easily makes 10x whats needed for the repairs and thats with a failing tourism industry as well remember

[Falcon500]

Well funny thing is that the gverment can spend money on asio and other such branches while tourisum,education and hospitals suffer greatly....the militery has been given a greater budget....i dont think they have their prioitys right...while i do admit that security is an issuei just kinda think the goverment is blowing it out of proportion.

[fpv_gtho]

its not good whats being done thats for sure........they divert millions of funds from failing things such as medical and education systems into something that hasnt payed off and is just sucking up money......its no wonder the voters are warming to mark latham after all the crap howard's pulled

[Falcon500]

Im am no fan of howards and personally id like to hit latham with a cricket bat for some of his ideas...parenting classes indeed...if a kid cant be controlled by the parents they need to suffer with something like an Alchaolics anoymys sorryabout the spelling) what are they going to call it bad parents anoynimus?
The milterys fine i think...hospitals are going down the toilet and goverments not helping shift the legislations which are putting doctors out of their profession,same with nurses. Teachers get pletny of money (i know because ive seen their payslip and nearly poppedmyself...and i work 6 days a week with overtime and they still make more then double that!) but the parity of funding needs to be adressed! Private schools why is the goverment subsidisng them when their parents are willing to shell out!

[fpv_gtho]

well i dont know if youve seen the adds Bob Carr's doing for the upcoming federal election, but its about Howard redirecting near 400millioni from NSW's budget and so on. he goes on to say that it could pay for thousands of nurses, police and teachers and that he wants people from NSW to show what they think in the upcoming federal election, or something like that. i personally think private schools and public schools should recieve the same amount of money as each other. sure the parents of private schools are prepared to pay for the education, but its the extra education theyre trying to pay for