Dunedin stadium about to make $400,000 profit? Tell ‘em they’re dreamin’ … but for Dunedin ratepayers, it’s no dream, more a nightmare. It’s an expensive bit of financial finagling that the Bulletin, TEL and the local stadium proponents want to hide from the light of day. The ‘Pie reports on the real situation courtesy of a brilliantly researched blog post by a respected economist/businessman. (Clue: it ain’t Colin the EcoPoodle.)
While airports attract people and planes, Townsville’s also attracts pink pigs, all lined up on the runway for take-off …
And on the lighter side, the wonderful anagram of the moment … a timely travel warning … and the valuable information from security searches.
But first …
There are those who continue to wonder why Queensland is so often a political laughing stock, although it would seem obvious from the tee-hee-heeing of The Mad Katter, the dancing dimwit Gold Coast politician and ethically challenged RAY STEVENS and the piddling, sexting drunk driving wife basher and systems gamer Billy Gordon et al.
Well, Bentley rightly suggests we add to the list the latest risible planning failure to adequately support the police service.
He says all was tickety-boo when Herr Campbell Newman started the recruitment of 1000 extra bluebags a few years ago, which continued apace by the current warmers of the government benches. As the Curious Snail somewhat curiously reported during the week, ‘The last batch of 266 police officers was rolled out this financial year’, making it sound like training down at the Rowes Bay Police Academy is a rollicking affair that ends in hangovers. (Maybe it does.)
BUT as always, things weren’t thought through by George Street, and the dreaded Unintended Consequence struck. Seems there aren’t enough cars to go around for all the new wallopers to share with the existing force. Although Police Minister Boof Byrne vaguely tells us ‘close to 1000 new and replacement vehicles’ have been budgeted for, that word ‘replacement’ is the problem, so it’s nowhere near 1000 new extra vehicles.
Now officers have to horse trade and wheedle to get wheels, and when they can’t get a police car, they have started to travel by public transport on their rounds. Bentley thinks they’ll have to provide their own sirens, too.
If things ain’t fixed lickety split, could we have a situation where a copper jumps into Q Rail driver’s cab and shouts ’Police! … follow that train, I think we’re on the right track!’.
Meanwhile The Federal Campaign Slumbers On … zzzzz
As mentioned previously in the Nest – and proved beyond doubt this week – balancing the budget is like going to heaven. Everyone wants to do it, but no one wants to do what you have to do to get there. The classic approach is being followed to a tee … a lot of big words and jaw-breaking sentences and then a diversionary tactic.
This week, that tactic was ads of a personal nature about the PM (as Shaun Micaleff said, they proved that Malcolm Turnbull was once a boy … but only when he was young). But Larry Pickering points out that is continuing a recent campaigning trend.
And that political anagram of the moment? If you rearrange the letters of ‘election results’ you get ‘Lies – let’s recount. .’
Gawd, let’s hope not.
You May Need To Re-read The Following To Make Sure You Saw It Correctly
While there’s more flipping going on at all political levels than a Shrove Tuesday pancake race, one thing stands out in the 9-candidate race for Herbert.
The most consistent person is Ewen ‘The Town Cryer’ Jones … (this is a serious comment) you have to admire his campaigning courage in staring down the bullying and hectoring of the paper (‘I’m Clueless, Says Jones’ was one headline, although he said no such thing) and remaining consistent on the message that the Feds do not fund stadia. The rights and the wrongs of that may be up for debate, and indeed may change as the campaign drags on, but for now, Jones remains absolutely and unflinchingly consistent.
Personally, The ‘Pie thinks Ewen is on a winner here. It’s like a beacon in the field of fair weather readers of the political breeze, which the Astonisher’s hot air and TEL’s blow-hard ‘forums’ fool some into believing is an accurate political weather vane.
Whether honesty in this electorate counts for anything is yet to be seen.
Dunedin’s Stadium Our Destiny? Hope Not … Now There’s Proof That Dunedin’s Dud
And a bloody expensive one for ratepayers and all concerned. Frankly, we’ve been lied top. Big time.
Remember that forum a couple of weeks ago, organized by TEL to convince what we are told is an already convinced populous of the divine destiny of a CBD stadium idea. One of the ‘star’ speakers at this disgraceful waste of money, was the head of the Dunedin Venue Management Ltd Terry Davies.
In what was probably a purposely lazy report, the Bulletin told us:
‘The $224 million stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand, with a population of 120,000, was built ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup and is set to turn a $400,000 profit this year.’ (We will leave aside a matter of grammar which appears to suggest the stadium has a population of 120,000.)
Oh, really? That turns out to be a-grade, rolled gold, nickel plated bullshit.
Warwick Powell
Local economist/ businessman Warwick Powell was intrigued as anyone to hear of this profit (it could probably be a world first for a stadium) and he did some digging. This, from his recent absolute cracker of a blog on the subject, is what he found about that predicted $400,000 ‘profit’.
Impressive right? Well, it would be except that it is nothing more than an accounting sleight of hand. A little bit of homework will tell us that the company’s owner (the Otago Council / ratepayers) has baled out the stadium ops company by:
- Halving its rent;
- Injecting $2m into the business to help pay debts;
- Providing $750k of annual working capital for the next 3 years; and
- Moving $30m of debt from the business’ balance sheet onto the Council’s balance sheet.
All in all, ratepayers’ costs per year for the stadium operations have increased by $1.8m or 18.3% to over $11m. Far from being profitable due to organic operational improvements, the turnaround in the books is due to Peter robbing to pay Paul. The loser: Otago’s ratepayers.
Now that’s pretty definitive stuff, and shows that we are being sold a potentially disastrous nipple clamp for not only Queensland taxpayers, but more importantly, Townsville ratepayers would certainly be at risk.
Powell also puts a big dint in the claims of stadium building is a jobs generator, as claimed by former Adelaide Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood [whom Powell describes in parenthesis as ‘a registered urban futurist’. No, The ‘Pie doesn’t know, either, but glad we didn’t get an unregistered one.
Reports Mr P.
When in doubt, make the echo chamber echo.
And so, this past week, we’ve had the “registered urban futurist” from Adelaide make unjustifiable and unsubstantiated claims about why the rebuild of the Adelaide Oval has been at the heart of the renewal of the Adelaide economy. It’s just a pity that behind the urban renewal puffery, the evidence on unemployment in Greater Adelaide during the relevant period (2008-2014) shows a rising trend. Put bluntly, if a key measure of economic impact is effects on unemployment, then the redevelopment of Adelaide Oval coincided with a period of rising unemployment. It fails the basic sniff test.
‘Unjustifiable and unsubstantiated claims’? That would be music to any newspaper editor’s ears, but somehow, we didn’t get to see any of this in the Townsville Bulletin. Reporter Charlie Peel could’ve easily found out all this info … in fact maybe he did, but it had a fart’s chance in a fan factory getting into the Astonisher.
Mr Powell’s post in its entirety is compelling reading for anyone remotely interested in the facts about this issue, and it is unlikely to be challenged by the likes of Colin ‘EcoPoodle’ Dwyer, if for no other reason that it would give the unvarnished truth much needed oxygen.
Look, some people think The ‘Pie does goes on a bit about the stadium … and so he does, proudly as a matter of responsibility. Because it’s not about the stadium per se, it is about how the Townsville Bulletin is in the thrall of a small number of self-interested people who stand to gain greatly from a CBD stadium, despite possible risks to the general ratepayer, not to mention taxpayer. And the paper appears happy to suppress where it can any tangible debate about the matter. The emotional coercion of job prospects shifts daily, and really doesn’t guarantee locals anything concrete (no pun intended). An integrated project, yes – a staged one, no way.
If they get their way, the current iditor will be long gone to greater rewards in the Murdoch empire when these things become apparent and start to bite, but he will hardly even shrug at what has happened here because of his disgraceful time at the helm of this captured newspaper. Why should he care?
Yes, The ‘Pie … and now it appears, Warwick Powell … do go on about this issue … and The ‘Pie for one will continue doing so, as long as this complete dereliction of ethical standards persists. Wonder if Mullet The Wonderwoman will have anything to say about this – she has lately been making those noises about a stand-alone stadium and staged development … if that happens, kiss your financial and tourism arse goodbye, Townsville.
The Field Of Dreams Syndrome Is At Work Elsewhere
Airport boss and TEL chairman Kevin Gill
It appears that the starey-eyed airport boss Kevin Gill is following the business strategy that Lozza Lancini and the Astonisher are pushing … the puerile ‘build it and they will come’.
Somehow, Mr Gill, head of the TEL board which is meant to make Townsville and attractive destination and place to live, wants to stiff passengers a ticketed surcharge ($3 to $5) to fund what would seem a totally unnecessary $40 million revamp. Which would only really benefit his company, Queensland Airports. His reasoning isn’t too clear, no doubt for good reason, and neither is his maths … he seems to argue against data that shows passenger movements are, at the very best, steady, or falling. Now a monopolistic airport is not a place that can effectively be boycotted, so Mr Gill apparently has the idea of ‘lump it or like it’.
Fortunately, the airlines, which have already cut intrastate services to and from Townsville, have to approve any such surcharge, and reading between the unreliable lines of the Bulletin, they have told our our man to go and get knotted. ‘Visionary’ is completely different to unrealistic – and greedy – daydreaming, and our airport needs skilled, measured and experienced business management.
One day, perhaps, who knows.
In the meantime, this from a comment posted on the Nest this week.
- Alex De Large
June 10, 2016 at 10:21 am (Edit)
To be honest, I really don’t see any pressing or urgent need for a huge upgrade to the existing facilities.
As a platinum-class frequent flyer with 30 movements through the Townsville airport over the last five months alone, I can honestly say that I have never been overly inconvenienced or delayed by a lack of facilities. Whilst the Q-Club is on the smallish side, it is adequate enough and it is extremely rare these days that it becomes standing -room-only. My personal impression is that, overall, there has been a significant decrease in numbers of passengers passing through the terminal. I know that Qantaslink has dramatically reduced the frequency of TSV-MKY and TSV-CNS flights in response to decreased demand. On virtually every flight these days I have an empty seat beside me. The airport presents as a rather utilitarian facility, without frills, glitz or glamour. Why do we need more than that? Generally, you get there an hour before the flight, buy an overpriced and vile cup of coffee, play with your iPad and then line up to get on a plane. When you arrive, you go directly to the carousel, collect your bag and go. To say that waiting in an airport is part of the “travel experience” is a total wank.
In short, the current facilities are totally adequate.
Even the taxis have improved. 4-5 years ago, it was nothing to be waiting for a taxi on Friday night for longer than it took you to fly from Cairns.
Security At Townsville Is A Breeze Next To Canada
The Canadian Air Transport Association has just published last years stats for full body screening in the land of the Canuk.
But Always Heed Travel Warnings.
Especially if you’re heading to Thailand.
More From Comments
The ‘Pie likes to join in the conversation on other sites, but his contributions aren’t always appreciated as they should be. During the week, the Guardian declined his comments on this story …
The ‘Pie thought here’s a chance to be helpful and compassionate, but The Guardian apparently couldn’t see that ‘BOO!’, ‘Quick, behind you!” and ‘Bill Shorten may become Prime Minister‘ were things that should be said to jumpy people.
Of course, that halted the old bird in his tracks, so he didn’t forward on follow-up suggestions of ‘Malcolm Turnbull may get re-elected‘ and ‘Tony abbott is thinking about a comeback.‘
Bloody spoilsports.
The Final Word …
Like they say in the gun fighting westerns, one day, you’re always going to come across some one better than you. As Paul Zanetti points out, it applies to everybody.
That’s enough drivel for now. if you’re able to help out with defraying the blog costs with a donation, it would be greatly appreciated – The Magpie promises to avoid your car in the parking lot if you do. The ‘how to’ bit is below.
