Taxpayer-funded compensation to Supercars for cancellation of Adelaide 500 to be kept secret

The Premier has told parliament he won’t reveal how much taxpayers will fork out to make up for the Adelaide 500’s demise.

Leader of the Opposition Peter Malinauskas. Picture: Tom Huntley

The amount of money the State Government will hand over to Supercars to compensate it for cancelling the Adelaide 500 will be kept secret, State Parliament has been told.

Premier Steven Marshall confirmed during an estimates hearing on Wednesday that the payout figure would not be made public.

“I am advised that that is not publicly disclosed – It has not been the practice of the SATC (South Australian Tourism Commission) in the past,” he said.

It came after Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas asked Mr Marshall if the compensation figure amounted to $2.75 million.

A fee schedule set out in a 2015 South Australian Motor Sport Board document stated the proposed amount the Government would pay Supercars to stage the event in 2021 was $2.75 million.

Mr Malinauskas also asked Mr Marshall to disclose the net cost of the Adelaide 500.

“We keep those matters confidential, because by putting that information out I think that it diminishes our ability to negotiate going forward,” Mr Marshall said.

Jamie Whincup’s #88 Red Bull Holden at last year’s Superloop 500. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

“That has been the practice of the government under both major parties.”

Mr Marshall did concede the “net cost to the taxpayers continued to very significantly increase in recent years”.

“And any independent analysis of what would happen with revenue would demonstrate that that would significantly diminish, because we know that we can’t hold events with 200,000 people,” he said.

Mr Marshall said the overall expected cost of cancelling the Adelaide 500 was still subject to negotiations with Supercars.

Mr Malinauskas suggested the Government “made a decision to cancel the event because of rising costs without knowing what the cost is of cancelling the event”.

The Government in late October announced it had scrapped the 2021 Adelaide 500 in response to a recommendation from the South Australian Tourism Commission.

Rising costs, falling crowds, declining commercial interest and the coronavirus pandemic were blamed for the event’s demise.

The Advertiser reported that this year’s event generated $38 million in economic benefit, compared to 45.9 million in 2019.

The number of interstate and international visitors decreased during the same period from 15,200 to 11,906.

Labor has pledged to reinstate the event if it wins the 2022 State Election.