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Save Albert Park is not against the Grand Prix itself - it is against holding it in Albert Park which is an inappropriate & very costly venue; the race should be held at a permanent purpose-built track well away from residential areas
Hasn't Albert Park always been a race-track - isn't it the "home" of the Australian Grand Prix?
The original Park roads were never intended for motor racing. Lakeside Drive used to be a horse riding track and Aughtie Drive was first built in 1860.
Only two previous Australian Grand Prix races (1953 and 1956) have been held in Albert Park. Others held in Victoria were at Phillip Is. (8 races), Point Cook (one race), Sandown (6 races), and Calder (5 races). Motor racing was held periodically in Albert Park between 1953 and 1958 but was then banned by the Bolte Liberal Government because of the noise and loss of access caused by fencing.
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Hasn't Albert Park been improved?
The Kennett Government has attempted to win public support for the Grand Prix by linking it with a Park 'enhancement' programme. Compared with $50-60 million spent on circuit construction, it has spent only $10 million on genuine park improvements. Some unsightly old buildings have been removed, new pavillions, shelters and toilets built, and there has been some general tidying up, but the fact remains that the park has been re-designed and constructed into a car-racing venue. The historic character of the Park has been drastically altered with over 1,000 trees destroyed in the process. Lakeside Drive with its 'chicane' bends is now closed at weekends in an attempt to reduce car accidents. Aughtie Drive now includes a 'main pit straight' lined with a quarter kilometre of permanent race garages and needs frequent speed humps to control the traffic.
The Government's claim that the Grand Prix was the "catalyst" for a much needed upgrading of the Park is completely dishonest.
Improvements to the Park began in 1992 with the dredging of the lake, and in December 1993, Melbourne Parks and Waterways released comprehensive plans. These plans were replaced very soon by a "Grand Prix" version showing the roads reconstructed into a car racing circuit.
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Isn't the Grand Prix good for Victoria?
The Grand Prix in Albert Park is unlikely to be 'good' for Victoria in any way. The Government has already spent $50-60 million in building the circuit in the Park and it costs at least $60 million each year to stage the event, including the estimated $15 million franchise fee, payable to the Formula One organizers in Europe.
The Victorian Government has not release any detailed figures on the financial result of the March 1996 Grand Prix, not even the number of tickets sold. A small operating loss has been indicated, and an 'economic benefit' to the State of $96 million claimed. No evidence to support this claim has been published. Adelaide's experience with the Formula One Grand Prix and Brisbane's with the Indycar Grand Prix indicate that the Melbourne event is unlikely to recover infrastructure and staging costs from ticket sales, sponsorships and franchises.
The event brings most benefit to operators of large hotels, sellers of fast food and drinks within the Park, and the tobacco industry which will use the TV coverage of the event (one of its last legal means of mass advertising) to promote its products. Evidence from Melbourne's 1996 Grand Prix, and from other cities hosting major events (eg Atlanta) is that local businesses lose, rather than gain, custom during these events.
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Melbourne has lots of parks - can't it spare one for the Grand Prix?
All of Melbourne's parks are now under threat in the present climate of economic rationalism. Governments are now seeing public parkland as free land for the taking. The Melbourne Tennis Centre was built on parkland by a Labor government ; the Kennett Government is using Albert Park for the Grand Prix and the new Sports and Aquatic Centre, Carlton Gardens for the new Museum, Yarra Bend Park for a prison for the criminally insane, Royal Park for car parking (and a Commonwealth Games 'village'?), and Koonung/Mullum Mullum Creek reserves for a freeway. Many municipal councils are selling parks which they regard as expendable assets. With massive increases in population, Melbourne needs more open parkland, free of buildings, not less.
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The race-track has been built & two races have been run - isn't the cause lost?
The cause is not lost - Save Albert Park will never give up its fight!
Protest demonstrations will continue. Vigorous lobbying will continue here and overseas directed to governments, motor racing authorities and race sponsors. Save Albert Park will eventually prevail and the race will be moved out of the park.
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What's really wrong with holding the Grand Prix in Albert Park?
It's wrong because
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Why all the fuss - doesn't the Grand Prix only last a few days?
The complete Grand Prix event lasts for four days, Thursday to Sunday. To hold it in Albert Park means erecting a security fence around the Park and preventing normal public access for at least seven days. In addition, substantial areas of the Park are closed down, starting three months before the event and continuing for a month afterwards to allow the erection and dismantling of road barriers, grandstands, bridges, temporary buildings and advertising hoardings. The peace of the park is disturbed over this four month period by heavy trucks delivering and taking away 20,000 tonnes of equipment.
Sports fields are used as sites for gravel run-offs, grandstands, hospitality facilities and car parks. Set-up and dismantling, combined with repair of the damaged grass means that sports clubs lose the use of their grounds for 4 months or more, and can only play half a season at Albert Park.
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Won't the race create jobs, bring overseas tourists, promote Melbourne & increase its international prestige?
The race creates work for the public servants administering the Grand Prix Corporation and some work for the construction, transport, advertising, entertainment and security industries. It also provides some hundreds of part-time jobs for a few days of the event. The money spent by the Government on this motor race could be directed into health or education, creating work for a more worthwhile purpose.
Overseas visitors coming to Melbourne specifically for the Grand Prix are likely to number only a few thousand. About 5,000 were claimed, but not counted, for 1996. Monitoring of TV broadcasts of the 1996 Melbourne Grand Prix seen overseas showed that far from being 'showcased', Melbourne received virtually no tourism promotion.
In a world increasingly conscious of the environment, the holding of a motor race in an important public park will be seen internationally not as increasing Melbourne's prestige but as shameful, and will therefore discourage mainstream tourism.