Kim O’KEEFFE (Shepparton) (15:11): I am feeling a bit hungry now, actually, after that contribution. I have not had lunch yet – the Italian delights. I rise to make a contribution on the Australian Grands Prix Amendment Bill 2025. This is a bill for an act to amend the Australian Grand Prix Act 1994 to extend the maximum duration of the race from seven days to up to 21 days, to update the definition of the grand prix insignia, to increase the maximum payment that the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) can make to the committee of management, to allow the Australian Grand Prix Corporation to host events approved by the minister which are not motorsport events or Formula One events, to provide for the appointment of acting members and an acting chairperson to the Australian Grand Prix Corporation and to provide for the declaration of public areas within the declared area. The act itself has been in operation for more than three decades, and the Australian Grand Prix has been one of the major highlights on the nation’s sporting calendar for Melbourne and for Victoria. We are proud to host this event in our state.
Whilst I have not attended the grand prix, Shepparton does have a very special connection to one of our sporting greats, the hugely successful superstar racing car driver Oscar Piastri. Oscar’s grandparents live in Shepparton and remain deeply involved in Oscar’s journey, which has been very well published. As we have seen in recent times, Oscar is having enormous success, which has been supported by local, national and international media. As you can imagine, the community have been getting behind Oscar, cheering him on from afar. I expect there will be a strong local presence at the grand prix next year, but definitely there will be fierce support for Oscar and his family locally and also across the nation. It will be very exciting. We are enormously proud of Oscar’s journey and his success on the world stage. It is also very exciting for Oscar and his family to have a grandstand named in his honour at next year’s grand prix, the 30th anniversary. Let us hope that he can bring it home in 2026.
Having significant events such as the grand prix is such a strong economic driver, as has been well shared in this chamber, filling motels and cafes and attracting visitors from worldwide. It is incredibly important to showcase opportunities to attract events on a world scale, including national and international opportunities. The grand prix is a critical economic driver for Victoria, and the 2025 race attracted over 465,000 attendees. It contributes over $300 million annually to the Victorian economy and supports more than 1145 full-time jobs across the hospitality, tourism, retail and related sectors.
Whilst we absolutely support the grand prix, we also need more opportunities in the regions to share economic opportunities. My electorate is known as the regional sporting capital of Australia, and we have had some incredible international and national sporting events. We have achieved some fantastic opportunities by putting our electorate on the world stage and in the spotlight.
Back in 2019, when I was the Mayor, we had an international live stream of the international beach volleyball event, which was held on our lake. We do not have a beach. I am talking about international beach volleyball. What we did was truck in tonnes of sand and place it alongside our lake, so we created our own beach.
Paul Edbrooke interjected.
Kim O’KEEFFE: Hundreds of tonnes. I do not know how many tonnes, member for Frankston, but hundreds of tonnes. I am not sure how many we took, but it was a lot. There were a lot of trucks trucking in sand so we could create our own beach, creating an opportunity to host an international event – that being, as I said, international beach volleyball. This opportunity meant that in between games I had the opportunity to do an international live stream and to put the call out about the wonderful land and many opportunities in my region, and we had a call the following Monday that actually led to a significant investment in the region. You never know what you can attract when you shine a bright light on your region and, as we are talking about today, on our state when it comes to the grand prix. We need to put ourselves out there and to show our capabilities and to create opportunities.
What we are truly lacking in my electorate is investment into our sporting facilities to continue to attract sporting events, which we do depend on in our region, and we must have fit-for-purpose facilities. The Member for Mildura also actually raised this important fact that regional communities can create incredible opportunities. But as I have said, we have to have fit-for-purpose facilities, in particular sporting facilities. We look at the lost opportunity from the cancellation of the regional Commonwealth Games, which, exactly like the grand prix, would have created such a huge economic boost and also would have put us on the world stage. The promise of investment, legacy infrastructure – it has been a huge let-down during these challenging times for local businesses, including motels and hospitality. As I said, it was a huge let-down to my community and a lost opportunity.
As many have raised in the chamber today, there are also some concerns regarding some of the increase in costs, and of course we have to be diligent in managing that and not imposing further increasing costs on the state, particularly if we are increasing other events and having those opportunities. As a state we need well-managed and financially sustainable major events to ensure that the economic benefits of events such as the grand prix can continue well into the future. On this side of the house we have advocated for the Australian Grand Prix Corporation to increase profitability and to reduce government contribution. We encourage events to go ahead, but we also need to reduce the burden on the budget. We want to make sure that we see proper oversight with Victorians’ taxpayer money. Largely the reason from the government for extending the event has been for safety reasons, but the government have not indicated what the extents of those reasons are.
The Member for Albert Park also raised the concerns around community safety in her contribution and the need for ongoing discussions, something that she said has been raised also by her constituents. There have been some concerns about extending the race period from seven days up to 21 days from some of the local community and more broadly, but also the extended closure. Many are concerned that there was only a two-week consultation period. We acknowledge the feedback from key stakeholders, including the City of Port Phillip, who raised valid concerns about the short consultation timeframe and community engagement. With such a short consultation period, it has created a situation where some community members and sporting clubs and groups may not have had sufficient opportunity or time to organise putting in a submission in time, but it has also created a perception within the community that a decision had already been determined.
The City of Port Phillip also argued that the proposed extension of the race period from seven days up to 21 days presents considerable challenges for local sporting clubs, particularly rowing and sailing clubs, that depend on uninterrupted access to the lake and do not have capacity to rehome to a nearby or close location, but the extended closure of Albert Park Reserve will also significantly restrict access for recreation. The lack of consultation and discussions with the impacted community is very frustrating, and of course we expect a backlash will occur if we do not do that process properly. We do want to see this amazing event continue. But I think it is also important that the voices of communities are heard and understood, and hopefully they can work through some of those challenges – some, obviously, not as easily as others. Importantly, the bill does ensure that public access to Albert Park, used by over 7 million people annually, can be maintained via designated access zones and tenant usage during this extended period. The bill established a mechanism to enable the Australian Grand Prix Corporation to allow access to Albert Park during the race period, ensuring the public continues to have as much access to the park as possible for as long as it is safe to do so.
Another amendment this bill makes is the bill provides for the AGPC to host non-motorsport events at any time, subject to approval by the minister. In doing so, the AGPC must submit an application to host such events six months in advance of the proposed event and contain essential information and security information. Only the minister will have regard to the financial sustainability of event as well as operational factors and any consultation undertaken.
As the City of Port Phillip raised, they are concerned with this amendment, and without clarity on the nature and scale of these events the potential in regard to competition, they said, exists for local venues and events, as well as community impacts on an additional scale.
Clause 25 of the bill seeks to amend section 41(1) of the Australian Grands Prix Act to substitute the maximum amount of the payment that the AGPC may make to the committee of management in respect of each race period, in this case Parks Victoria. This amount would be the greater of $200,000 or the prescribed amount, which is currently $100,000. This increased contribution by the AGPC to Parks Victoria does not guarantee that the funds will be used for site remediation. As administered under the act, the Governor in Council can make decisions regarding acting appointments to the AGPC.
Just going back, with the minute I have got to spare, in regard to community consultation, the Victorian government is seeking feedback on the proposed changes, emphasising the importance of community input, and we need to see that happen, as I have alluded to. Finally, I would like to wish Oscar great success at the grand prix, and we cannot wait to have another exciting grand prix in the state of Victoria.