Let’s harness power of motorsport

“ANYTHING with an engine attracts people here.”

This is a well-used line from Mildura councillor and former mayor Glenn Milne – and it rang true yet again across a bumper Easter power sports long weekend.

Local businesses’ cash registers were ringing as fast as the top-fuel action at the Sunset Strip.

It was incredible to see all the extra people in the Mildura district last weekend.

Excuse the pun, but what was chiefly driving this?

I refer you to the opening sentence of this column.

I’m no petrol head, but I can clearly see the economic benefits of hosting major power-sport events here.

And this is not something that has just kicked in. It’s been going on for many years.

That brings me to a 2016 Mildura Council business plan for a motorsport precinct at Koorlong that for head-scratching reasons, has never made it off the starting line.

According to Cr Milne, it’s still sitting in the garage waiting for the final parts to be assembled on it.

The essence of the plan is for a $22 million Stage 1 public-private investment that would include a sealed 3km road circuit, with potential for expansion, along with a camping ground, among other features.

Cr Mark Eckel revealed last year that the council had already spent nearly $500,000 on the proposal over the past seven years.

“We’re not getting a true indication of why private enterprise are not interested in this proposal,” Cr Eckel said at the time.

“The community has a right to know who has been approached, and the reasons why they weren’t interested.

“With a niche market like motorsport, you have a captive audience that brings major expenditure to Mildura.”

Cr Milne said the council should be pushing harder for government grants to “build it ourselves”.

“The business case shows we’ll make money out of it,” he said.

“The difference with motorsport is that the people involved with it are generally very well cashed up and they pay.

“I believe the proposed motorsport precinct will pay its way. It’s unlikely to pay a high return, but it will pay a return so you can look after maintenance of the track, et cetera, which other sporting facilities don’t.”

The council claims it has “completed a full and detailed business case for the Mildura Motorsports and Community Precinct”.

However, Cr Milne this week believed it was “still a couple of steps short of that”.

“You’ve got to have a plan that is ticked off and shovel-ready. But there isn’t a certified plan with this,” he said.

“My belief is that it all needs to be approved before a serious investor will come on board with it.

“They need to know that they can just come in and build it, without having to jump through planning hoops.”

With the council still trying to put in place seating, a scoreboard and basic fencing requirements at the new $45 million Mildura Sporting Precinct, it’s hard to see how the motorsport precinct proposal will gain traction.

And given that so much has already been invested in a business case for a proposal that could potentially make mega-dollars for this community, that simply doesn’t make sense.