Chief Minister Andrew Barr has put the brakes on a proposal that would have brought a V8 Supercar race to Canberra for the first time in more than two decades.
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The event proponents expressed bitter disappointment at failing to secure a face-to-face meeting with Mr Barr to allay his concerns over their pitch, but said the race was "not dead yet".
The ACT government had been considering a formal proposal to bring a leg of the V8 Supercar championship to the territory, using a circuit within Exhibition Park.
Mr Barr told a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday he had recently signed off on a brief to confirm he would not support the progression of the proposal.
"The assessment from the directorate was that it didn't stack up," Mr Barr said.
Mr Barr said the ACT would have needed to spend "tens of millions of dollars" to make the race work.
"It would have required a significant investment from the territory government in infrastructure at Exhibition Park that we were not in a position to make," he said.
The proposal would have required a new multi-purpose building at Exhibition Park to house pit facilities and the relaying of internal roads with a polymer-rich asphalt mix.
Turcin Avis was the promotional group that submitted the proposal, led by Angelo Turcin, Russell Avis and Andy Philpott.
Proponents of the event had claimed the price tag for the race would have been "cost neutral to the government within a two- to three-year timeframe".
Promoters for the Canberra V8 race, who had carefully scoped and developed the Exhibition Park proposal over a number of years, said a meeting with Mr Barr would have provided an opportunity to address the Chief Minister's concerns.
Mr Avis said the ACT government had committed to a multi-purpose facility at Exhibition Park and the race group had planned to integrate their requirement of a motor racing pit facility with that of the many other key stakeholders which used the venue, such as the National Folk Festival and the Royal Canberra Show.
The "significant investment" concerns expressed by the Chief Minister were not representative of what he believed the proposal had outlined, Mr Avis said.
"Our goal and commitment was always to make the event cost neutral to the government within a two- to three-year timeframe," he said.
"Yes, there would be up-front infrastructure costs involved but our intention was to leverage commitments that had already been made to upgrade the road network and the new Exhibition Park facility.
"These [races] are big events in the other states and territories; they bring in millions of dollars.
"This event really deserved a more considered study than we believe it was given; we had tried a number of times to get that sit-down meeting with the Chief Minister to walk him through what was proposed but we couldn't get time in his schedule, which is really unfortunate."
Mr Avis said the proposal was "not dead yet".
"We still believe in this idea. We have an alternative plan to bring a V8 Supercar race to Canberra," he said.
The Canberra Liberals' Leanne Castley, who asked Mr Barr about the race proposal on Wednesday, said she looked forward to more information that would make clear the internal decision-making process that resulted in the rejection of the proposal.
"I am disappointed in the response from the Chief Minister who did not provide any summary of costs or advice from the directorate on why the government decided not to go ahead with this event," Ms Castley said.
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V8 Supercars ran a race in Canberra for three years from 2000, on a street circuit within the Parliamentary precinct.
The original contract was for five years but future races were halted after a 2002 ACT Auditor-General's report found the economic benefits for the ACT were overstated and the "actual net direct financial costs of conducting the 2000 and 2001 races were greater than the government's original expectations".
Mr Barr on Wednesday said the evidence from that period showed a street circuit was similarly unviable to a track built at Exhibition Park.
"The costs were underestimated, the attendance was overestimated ... the Auditor-General conducted the report, said there were many flaws in relation to [revenue] and the program and the contract was discontinued," he said.
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Peter Brewer
Telling the truth and holding agencies accountable must matter to us all. It's also important to tell the story well, and factually. Contact me at peter.brewer@canberratimes.com.au
Telling the truth and holding agencies accountable must matter to us all. It's also important to tell the story well, and factually. Contact me at peter.brewer@canberratimes.com.au
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
