Victoria’s premier has defended bailing out Tennis Australia during the Covid-19 pandemic, arguing that hosting the Australian Open contributes millions to the state’s economy.
Tennis Australia financial accounts, lodged with the corporate regulator in December, revealed the state government forgave a $43m loan to the organisation that was accrued during the pandemic.
It was also revealed on Monday that the government provided up to $63m to Tennis Australia on the eve of the 2022 election to ensure it could meet its commitments for the 2023 Australian Open.
A ministerial briefing, obtained under freedom-of-information laws by the state opposition and first reported by the Age, shows the treasurer, Tim Pallas, signed off on the release of contingency funds to “ensure that Tennis Australia remains solvent and can manage its cashflow”.
The move was backed by the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF), which according to the briefing, had estimated the cost of staging the 2022 Australian Open was “$70m higher” than it otherwise would have been due to the Omicron wave and 50% stadium capacity cap.
The DTF said Tennis Australia should be able to use the funds on an “as needs” basis and return any unspent funds at the end of the financial year. It remains unclear whether any funds were returned.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, on Monday would not confirm whether the government had provided $63m to Tennis Australia, arguing any arrangements with Tennis Australia were commercial in confidence.
“We have commercial arrangements with Tennis Australia for the operation of the world-class event that is the Australian Open,” she told reporters.
“It’s one of our key anchors on our major events calendar. We saw yesterday 87,000 people attend the first day. The event on an annual basis brings $357m of economic return to our city and state.”
The minister for sports and major events, Steve Dimopoulos, wrote to Pallas in August 2022 seeking the release of the funds. On Monday, he said the funds were part of negotiations with Tennis Australia to ensure the Australian Open would be held in Melbourne until 2046.
“We came out of these arrangements with 10 more years of best grand slam on this soil right here in Melbourne,” Dimopoulos said.
“If you average out the economic contribution to $400m every year for the next 10 years, that’s $4bn of economic uplift for Victoria … I think the Victorian taxpayer and future Victorian citizens have got the best deal out of our support for Tennis Australia.”
Victoria’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, said while he supported the Australian Open the government should have been more transparent about the payments to Tennis Australia at the time they were made.
“The $63m payment from the Labor government to Tennis Australia only became public because my office launched a freedom of information request. We shouldn’t have to go to that length to get basic information about the use of money,” he said.
“The Allan Labor government should have disclosed this payment at the time. Victorians are entitled to know how their dollars have been used.”
According to Tennis Australia’s financial accounts, the “one-off derecognition” of the $43m loan from the government helped the organisation return to a surplus of $62m in the FY2023, though losses for the period still increased to $6.4m.
Revenues – which increased from $499m to $542m – include funding from the Australian Sports Commission, Department of Foreign Affairs and state tourism bodies.
Additional reporting by Jack Snape
