Secret documents dispute Premier’s claim on costs to light Opera House for King’s Coronation
Chris Minns said lighting the Opera House for the King’s Coronation would have cost taxpayers up to $100,000 but secret documents suggest the costs would have been far less.
NSW
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Premier Chris Minn’s claim that he saved taxpayers $100,000 by not lighting the Opera House sails to mark the coronation of King Charles has been torn to shreds by secret government documents which reveal similar projections cost just half that figure.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal that it cost as little as $50,000 to light up the Opera House sails with images similar to the one that had been planned to celebrate the coronation.
It can also be revealed that NSW taxpayers already spent $1800 on plans to project the King’s Cypher onto the Opera House before the project was scrapped.
The revelations come from secret government documents which also revealed that the Opera House sails were kept dark for Diwali in November last year “out of respect for the communities who are presently grieving over the human suffering unfolding in Gaza and Israel”.
Not illuminating the sails for Diwali was a departure from previous years where the Opera House was lit up to celebrate the Hindu Festival of Lights.
Mr Minns’ decision to cancel the celebration of King Charles was first revealed by The Daily Telegraph in May last year.
At the time, he defended the decision as a way to save money.
“It costs between [$80,000] and $100,000 to light up the Opera House. We’ve got to be mindful of where taxpayer money is spent,” Mr Minns told 2GB’s Ben Fordham in response to the Telegraph’s revelations.
It later emerged that government bureaucrats labelled the move a “political” decision and suggested ways of lighting the sails on the cheap.
Now, an audit of money spent for lighting the Opera House sails for other events has revealed the real cost could have been much less.
It cost taxpayers just $50,000 to project a black ribbon onto the Opera House sails in solidarity with Turkey and Syria following a devastating earthquake in February 2023.
Projecting a red and white ribbon onto the sails in honour of slain paramedic Steven Tougher after he was allegedly murdered in the back of his ambulance also cost $50,000.
Both projections used high-powered lights installed at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, the more expensive of two options when lighting the Opera House sails.
Lighting the Opera House in green and gold for four nights to mark the Matildas’ World Cup campaign cost taxpayers $140,700 – or just $35,175 per night.
The Lunar New Year light show on the Opera House cost taxpayers $40,000 and the Australia Day projection cost $63,000.
The cheaper option for lighting the sails — using existing floodlights to project colours onto the sails — costs just $10,000.
The decision not to light up the sails for Diwali came after consultation with “key community groups,” the documents said.
The documents were released under a freedom of information request by Liberal MP Matt Cross.
Liberal Leader Mark Speakman accused Mr Minns of misleading the public when cancelling plans to mark the King’s Coronation on Sydney’s most iconic landmark.
“Thanks to the secret government documents, we now know that lighting up the Opera House for numerous occasions had cost far less,” he said.
Mr Minns was contacted for comment.
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