Time to start adding up the costs
5 June 1998Olympics Minister Michael Knight was expecting a wave of hostile "Olympic Budget Blow-out" headlines when he revealed it will cost the Government an additional $600 million to stage the Games.
Instead, there was a muted response to the Olympic spending details in the Budget, even though they provide the first full estimates of what the whole show will cost.
One reason the response was so low key was because the blow-out figures were largely offset by the $602 million the Government estimates it will earn in extra tax revenue thanks to the Games.
But the State's Auditor-General, Mr Tony Harris, says he won't include this figure when he presents his version of how much the Games cost later this year. Mr Harris, who has long been pushing for the full costs of the Games, is now reviewing the Government's figures.
He said this week he would exclude the $602 million from his bottom-line cost to taxpayers because it was "indirect" revenue. Nor would he include the mass of indirect expenditure - such as the cost of treating sick or injured Olympic tourists in public hospitals - as it was impractical to do so.
Although the Olympic figures were released as part of the Budget, Mr Harris was surprised some of the items, notably the $602 million estimate of extra tax, were not included in the Budget papers but only in an accompanying document called State of Play, published by the Government's Olympic Co-ordination Authority and not by the NSW Treasury.
He is certain to dispute some of the Government's decisions on what constitutes Olympic spending, such as the flyover on Centennial Drive at the entrance to Olympic Park. A new roundabout was replaced with the flyover. Mr Knight's office insists it was a traffic black spot, but Mr Harris says it was built for the Games.
The director of the NSW Council of Social Service, Mr Gary Moore, has written to Mr Harris asking him to answer some other financial questions arising from the Budget:
? Why are there no estimates for social impact costs of the Olympics such as providing emergency housing?
? Why have Government agencies not asked which capital works projects they've deferred or dropped because of the priority for Olympic capital projects?
? Is all ongoing spending by Government agencies before and during the Games included in the estimates provided?
? Are Government departments such as police and transport being fully compensated for their Olympic expenditure?
The Opposition has already dubbed the $602 million tax figure a "mystery windfall" and said there is "absolutely no evidence" it will materialise. With the election likely just four months after the Auditor-General's report, the Games could well emerge as an election issue.
