Regional event centres forgotten from coronavirus assistance
Field days and event centres in regional Victoria are calling for support from the Government after falling through the gaps in financial aid.
REGIONAL venues and field days have fallen through the cracks of the Victorian Government’s coronavirus assistance, according to the boss of a premier Gippsland facility.
Lardner Park chief executive Craig Debnam has had to wipe out a full calendar of events this year, including cancelling Farm World for the first time in 57 years.
He is lobbying for government and community support, with continued help from members of the Association of Agricultural Field Days of Australasia.
“I’d like the Government to consider what they’re doing to support this industry.”
“We’ve slipped through the gaps — field days, events, suppliers, marquee providers, grandstand providers are all affected. It’s an industry all of it’s own and with all the peripheral aspects of it — we’re talking billions of dollars across the industry.”
Mr Debnam has appealed to his local MPs and businesses to ensure they remain afloat, already having lost an estimated $2.1 million in direct revenue, and can continue providing events that benefit the community and agriculture industry.
“I can quite easily say multiple tens of millions of dollars come to Gippsland and Baw Baw Shire because of the events we conduct, and that’s worth saving,” he said.
“The community really benefits from the facility. If not for the strong agricultural season with solid rainfall and an extended harvest season and solid milk prices in dairy, the impact to our large local Ag businesses could have also been heavily impacted by the lost sales at Farm World.”
Mr Debnam said he was currently working on ways to survive the pandemic, and was confident they would make it through the other side, with the right help.
“It’s all about grants and funding to get us to survival.”
Victorian Minster for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Martin Pakula told the Victoria Tourism Industry Council last week he was working to ensure event centres would be in a good position for an economic restart.
“I can’t foreshadow decisions that haven’t been made. One of the things we are working on is how we can ensure that when we get through the other side of this, all of those parts of that ecosystem are still around so we can turn the key and fire up again,” he said.
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