00:00 It's known as the happy slam and it was all smiles on day one of the Australian Open yesterday.
00:07 We love the relationship we have with the Victorian government.
00:10 We hugely appreciate it for allowing us to do what we do.
00:14 That feeling seems to be mutual.
00:16 FOI documents obtained by the state opposition show the Treasurer Tim Pallis approved a support
00:21 payment of up to $63 million to help Tennis Australia pay its bills post-pandemic.
00:27 I think the Victorian taxpayer and future Victorian citizens have got the best deal
00:32 out of our support for Tennis Australia and this tournament.
00:36 In 2021 and 2022, Tennis Australia recorded losses in the millions after pandemic restrictions
00:42 and snap lockdowns disrupted the Open.
00:45 It's since bounced back.
00:46 Just months after receiving its $63 million bailout, Tennis Australia posted a $62 million surplus.
00:54 The last year we've done an incredible amount of work in ensuring that we had sufficient
00:58 funds to launch 2024 and 2025.
01:02 This event is commercially viable and stands on its own two feet.
01:06 We don't need to be handing taxpayer money over to commercially viable events.
01:10 The secret bailouts has been made public as the state struggles to drive down its eye-watering
01:14 debt which is projected to reach $177.8 billion by 2027.
01:20 If Victoria had been in as strong a financial position as Western Australia, I would still
01:26 have raised some eyebrows at the scale of the state government's generosity towards
01:31 Tennis Australia.
01:32 What kind of improvements could we have seen to Victorian roads, hospitals, schools with
01:37 those funds?
01:39 The government says it's the price needed to be paid to keep the Australian Open in
01:42 Melbourne until 2046.
01:45 If you average out the economic contribution to about $400 million round about every year
01:50 for the next 10 years, that's $4 billion of economic uplift for Victoria.
01:55 Tennis Australia is expecting record crowds during this year's tournament.
01:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments