From the Publisher A New Decade of Challenges
Published by Australian Leisure Media Pty Ltd, 102 Taiyul Road, North Narrabeen, NSW 2101 (PO Box 478, Collaroy, NSW 2097) AUSTRALIA ABN 32 092 549 721
Tel: 02 9970 8322 Fax: 02 9970 8355 E-mail: leisure@ausleisure.com.au www.ausleisure.com.au Twitter: @AusLeisure Facebook: www.facebook.com/AusLeisure Editor Karen Sweaney Publisher Nigel Benton Design Australian Leisure Media Pty Ltd Administration Bill Gillies
Advertising Inquiries Nigel Benton Tel: 02 9970 8322 Email: nigel@ausleisure.com.au James Croll Tel: 0488 090 904 Email: jcroll@ausleisure.com.au Printed in Australia by Newstyle Printing Pty Ltd 41 Manchester Street, Mile End, SA 5031 Tel: 1300 773 438, www.newstyleprint.com.au The annual subscription cost is AUS $90 (inclusive of GST) in Australia, New Zealand and throughout the Rest of the World. Members of AALARA, ALFA, ASSA, EVANZ, Exercise Association of New Zealand, Sports and Play Industry Association and the VMA receive the magazine as a membership benefit. The views contained in Australasian Leisure Management are not necessarily those of Australian Leisure Media Pty Ltd or the Editor. While every care is taken with advice given, Australian Leisure Media Pty Ltd and the Editor can take no responsibility for effects arising therefrom. Views expressed by contributors may be personal and are not necessarily the views of their employers or professional associations.
© Australasian Leisure Management, 2020. ISSN 1446-1374
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The start of a new year or decade should bring with it predictions of where the industry will be heading and expectations of positivity for the future. Instead the last couple of months have presented enormous challenges across the industry: the White Island volcanic tragedy; Australia’s catastrophic bushfires; the ongoing revelations of the so-called ‘sports rorts’ affair; the release of the Coronial inquest into the Dreamworld fatalities of 2016 and the outbreak and impact of Coronavirus across Asia and around the world. These matters have certainly impacted the industry and will continue to do so for months and years ahead. In this issue, we ask if the deaths of visitors at White Island could have been avoided and explore the implications of the Dreamworld inquest while our online news at www.ausleisure. com.au continues to report on the fast moving developments of the other challenges that the industry faces.
Bushfires
The devastating bushfires across south eastern Australia over recent months have impacted communities, economies, the environment and wildlife, with apocalyptic footage of monstrous fires, heroic firefighters, injured animals and tourists in smoke masks filling news channels, front pages and social media around the world. In addition to the deaths of at least 33 people, the economic and environmental impact has been huge, with many areas of the leisure industry affected. With tourism one of Australia’s biggest exports, the bushfires have driven international visits down while locals have seen festivals and sporting events cancelled and their quality of life and health impacted by poor air quality. Wherever you stand on the causes of climate change, the reality of a changing climate demands that industry prepares to deal with it, perhaps in the way that it rallied together with events such as Fire Fight Australia (our cover feature in this issue).
Sports Rorts
The ongoing revelations of how the Federal Government allocated funds from the Community Sport Infrastructure Grant Program prior to the last national election have made depressing reading over recent months. It shows that irrespective of whether a project met Sport Australia’s criteria in terms of community participation, local need and design and delivery, its location in a marginal or Coalition electorate was a key factor in all-too-many cases. I have long been concerned that both of Australia’s major parties have made extravagant commitments to leisure, and particularly sport projects at election time as it shows that politicians hold a cynical regard towards the electorate, assuming that allocating a few hundred thousands dollars to their favourite team or preferred local sport will secure their vote. At a time when public confidence in politicians continues to decline, the sports rorts affair also undermines the industry’s confidence in the effectiveness of its expertise and recommendations. However, moving forward on a brighter note, following more than 20 years of calls for a national audit of facilities in order to identify need and, in some cases, overprovision, it is a pleasure that our feature ‘Meeting Demand’ has flagged the release of a central infrastructure database for the industry. Developed by key industry stakeholders to inform best practice planning and investment it has the potential to give everyone more confidence to make decisions and coordinate with partners, which will ultimately lead to more active communities. Nigel Benton, Publisher
