Bill Stefaniak (Summernats, shades of 1989) tells us that an economic impact study following the 1989 Summernats showed “Canberra” benefitted by $5.1 million. I’ve always been bemused over how such figures are arrived at, always seeming to provide massive cash flows to a city’s economy, even, as Bill points out in Summernats’ case, during a “dead time of year”. What precisely is included, what is the basis upon which it is calculated, e.g., estimated or actual, where exactly does all this revenue come from, on what is it spent and by whom and, finally, how much of it actually stays in the city where the event is staged or ends up in the hands of external companies? On the other hand, how is the expenditure for the event calculated and does it cover everything paid out (the figure of $30,000 for Urban Services in the 1989 event seems a little light to me if absolutely all costs are taken into account)? There wouldn’t be any creative accounting in calculating the “value” of these events would there?

• E Hunter, Cook ACT

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