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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-05-14 Daily Xml
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Stadium Management Authority

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (14:46): My question is to the Treasurer. In light of the pandemic, has the government, Treasury and finance received any notice from the Stadium Management Authority, the SANFL and the South Australian Cricket Association seeking a deferment or waiving of financial obligations to the sinking fund at the Adelaide Oval, and also deferring repayments on the $42 million loan to build the hotel at the Adelaide Oval?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:47): The government has received a submission and has agreed to it and publicly announced it in relation to the SMA's requirement to contribute, I think, about $3 million a year into the sinking fund, so this is football and cricket's own money, which they are required to put into a special account of their own to maintain the asset as it goes ahead over the coming decades.

So it is not a contribution from the taxpayers to the SMA; it is their money, they are required to put it into an account. They said that because of COVID-19 they are not making any money at the moment because there are no functions, events or games at Adelaide Oval at the moment and would the government agree to defer that particular payment, and we have agreed to defer that payment.

Whilst it wasn't part of the honourable member's question, they also asked whether or not the government would agree to not require them to pay $1 million of their profit into one of the community sport and recreation funds. One of the amendments that the then opposition, I think led by the then member for Davenport, Iain Evans, to which the government agreed, was that of the profitability from Adelaide Oval $1 million a year approximately should go into community sport facilities and grants. They again said that because they don't have any money to make to put into that fund could they be excused from that, and we agreed to excuse them from that particular payment.

To ensure that community sport didn't lose out, the taxpayers, through a decision of the government, have contributed $1 million into that community sport scheme so that there will be no loss of funding going into community sport as a result of that particular decision. All of that has been publicly announced, so I refer the honourable member to, I suspect, my very little read website, where there is a press release that indicates the detail for those decisions.

In relation to the loan that finances the hotel, there may well have been a submission, but the government has not agreed to anything in relation to that loan arrangement. I will check to see whether or not there was a formal submission seeking assistance in relation to that, or whether it was just something being talked about, but the government hasn't made a decision in relation to providing relief in that particular area.

The member may or may not be excited to hear that evidently the hotel project is proceeding at pace and is, as I understand it, broadly online in terms of the timing and dependent on what happens in the duration of COVID-19 and the ability for international cricket tends to come to Australia later this year to be ready for the big event that was coming later in the year—I forget what it was—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: The T20 World Cup.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —the T20 World Cup game, evidently, later this year. That will obviously depend on whether or not international travel is allowed for international cricketers to visit our shores.

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