Rita Panahi: Footy fork-out reveals state government’s sheer madness
The Andrews government’s plan to fork out a hefty sum for a second-rate AFL game would be funny if it wasn’t so mindlessly stupid. Why are we spending public money on the nation’s wealthiest sporting code, asks Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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The state government must think Victorians are dimwitted mugs. How else can one explain the astonishing decision by the Andrews government to spend taxpayer dollars “securing” a second-rate AFL game?
To be clear, the state government is spending a six-figure sum, rumoured to be between $250,000 and $300,000, to have St Kilda play their home game against Port Adelaide at their home stadium. It would be funny if it wasn’t so mindlessly stupid.
Public money should not be going to the nation’s wealthiest sporting code, which had revenue of $794 million and net profit of just over $48 million in 2019, all without paying a single cent in tax.
The AFL’s tax exempt status helps it pay its executives millions in salaries and bonuses. In 2018 the AFL’s 12-person executive team was paid just over $10.7 million in wages, including $3.56 million in bonuses. This is a competition so fat it can pay an activist a salary that rivals that of the premier and prime minister to be the league’s “general manager of inclusion and social policy”.
The St Kilda v Port Adelaide game was originally scheduled for Round 11 at Shanghai’s Jiangwan Stadium to promote the AFL’s fanciful notions of expanding the game to new markets. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, it will now be played in Melbourne in Round 12.
As much as the AFL loves an overseas junket, at some point they’ll have to acknowledge people in other countries, whether it’s the UK, New Zealand or China, are not going to adopt our game.
Even giving away scores of free tickets doesn’t get many to the games, which are typically attended by expats.
The latest clubs to declare plans to play a home and away game overseas are Essendon and Greater Western Sydney, who will reportedly “net more than $1 million” for the venture, though no one has explained how.
The Victorian government’s explanation for using taxpayer dollars for a Sunday twilight game which will likely draw less than 20,000 spectators is that the game will be a “celebration of Melbourne’s Chinese community”.
Trying to use the plight of Chinese restaurateurs to justify this absurdity takes real chutzpah but that’s precisely what Premier Daniel Andrews did yesterday in the Victorian parliament when asked why a government facing significant budgetary pressures, that have forced treasurer Tim Pallas to cut $4 billion in spending, is paying the nation’s richest sporting code to play a game at a ground it owns.
The same weird rationale was put forward on Wednesday by Sports Minister Martin Pakula who said Victoria did not want the game going to Cairns.
“It’s been well-publicised that there may have been an offer from the Queensland government, so this is something where there was a degree of competition,” he said.
“We don’t want to see a great AFL fixture between the Saints and Power played in Cairns, where for a modest investment, not only can the game be here, but we can have a great celebration of our Chinese community and get a whole lot of South Australians over … staying in our hotels, and eating in our restaurants.”
Is the sports minister unaware there are interstate clubs playing in Melbourne every week during the AFL season, with the exception of Round 21, so why should this lowly game receive government support? And why assume a low-drawing club such as Port Adelaide is going to bring thousands of interstate tourists to our struggling Asian eateries?
If the government is going to throw away our money on frivolities then the least it can do is be transparent about how much its spending — but Pakula has refused to reveal the sums involved.
“We don’t want to reveal our hand in regards to how we secure events in Victoria. In the scheme of things, it is a relatively modest sum,” he said.
One wonders what possible reason could the government have to bail out the rich and mighty AFL? The AFL’s head of clubs and broadcast, Travis Auld, was also on message about the game being vital in boosting Asian eateries.
“It’s a time to support our Chinese community,” he said. “They require our support more than ever and on behalf of the AFL, that is our intention now and through to the game and beyond.”
If Auld or Pakula had bothered to speak to a few Chinese restaurateurs, they’d know the bulk of the patrons staying away are of Asian background. By all means do everything possible to get them back to Melbourne’s great restaurants, but luring a few dozen Port Adelaide fans isn’t going to have much of an impact.
The decision highlights the Andrews Government’s twisted priorities. On the same day it announced taxpayer funds would be used for a St Kilda game to be played at St Kilda’s home ground, we learned a vital service for traumatised women is to be axed. A $130,000 cut from Victorian Legal Aid funding means the Court Network will not be able to help domestic violence victims.
Surely a critical service for at-risk women negotiating the court system is far more worthy of public funding than an AFL game.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist.