It looks as though the Australian Grand Prix has been saved for at least until 2015. This is a great victory for common sense allows us Melbournians to breathe a sigh of relief. It seems that the recent huffing and puffing by Bernie Ecclestone was all just a lot of hot air aimed at getting us to shift the race to a more European TV friendly time.
I do know that a lot of people in Melbourne will be unhappy with the GP staying for another seven years. These people argue that the race always loses money that can be better spent on hospitals (always with the hospitals). They don’t care about the tourist benefit Melbourne gets when thousands of people trek from interstate and overseas to visit our city for this race. They don’t care about the many millions of people in Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East who watch the race and think that maybe Melbourne would be a nice place to spend a vacation. They don’t care about the boost to trade that the GP gives to the restaurants around Albert Park and South Melbourne, as well as those in Lygon Street Carlton, where fans and members of the teams including, the big tipping drivers, like to dine out during Grand Prix week. They don’t care about the amount of money that tourists and teams spend at places like the (evil) casino and just how many people benefit from the GP. They just want it gone because they think that it ruins Albert Park, although most people who are members of the Save Albert Park loonies seem to come from places like Eltham, Greensborough or somewhere else that is miles away from Albert Park. (I’m from South Melbourne by the way!) I doubt that they ever go to Albert Park and if they do they forgot what a run down, horrible dustbowl of a place it was before the Grand Prix arrived.
Accordingy to these brainiacs we can put that GP money, and any other money that the government spends on sporting or cultural events, into hospitals or other such things that they deem appropriate, even if it would make Melbourne a pretty boring place to live. There would be no Moomba, Royal Show, golf, Boxing Day cricket, AFL grand final, live theatre or anything else that gets government money but is nothing but entertainment, but they would not care at all. Or are these hypocrites just concerned at money going to events they don’t like, such as the Grand Prix?!
