Car racing on the Sydney Harbour Bridge combined with Melbourne bashing. What better way to focus the eyes of NSW voters than to announce the state will try to steal the Formula One Grand Prix from Melbourne – one the eve of the 2015 race.
Through a story in the Daily Telegraph, the NSW government announced that former Sydney 2000 Olympics bid boss Rod McGeoch and former News Ltd boss and Destinations NSW chair John Hartigan will scrutinise the potential of a bid by the NSW government for the race after 2020. The bid would be need to be lodged in 2018.
“We want the best possible bid and we put the best team together to put that bid together,” Baird confirmed later on Thursday.
“Rod McGeoch, a man that brought the greatest sporting event on the planet to this great city, we’ve charged him to look at this event, to bring it to the city in a way that makes sense, in a route that makes sense in way that drives the economy.
“We also want Sydney and NSW to be the destination of the world and certainly we don’t think Melbourne’s that, we’ve got a lot of upside here in Sydney and we are after their events.”
Baird said the bid would only go ahead if there was significant economic benefit to the state – an assessment that McGeoch and Hartigan would make. The move is reminiscent of Baird’s father Bruce Baird, who was the NSW minister in the charge of the Sydney Olympic bid in the Fahey government in the early 1990s.
Given former premiers have tried to lure the event to Sydney, Baird underlined McGeoch’s involvement in the Sydney Olympics.
“Everyone said at that time [of the Olympics bid], it couldn’t be done, it was too ambitious, well I say, it’s about time that NSW did not accept second best, it’s about time we went after the best events,” said Baird.
“Don’t underestimate a state government and a state that believes in itself. Second best no more. Its time that this city had the best.”
But almost as immediately as Sydneysiders processed the story, head of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, Ron Walker, poured cold water on what the Melbourne Herald Sun described as a “brazen bid”.
“We have a contract with [Formula One Group chief executive Bernie] Ecclestone until 2020 and we have another five-year option,” Walker told the ABC. “So it’s a long time before Sydney could even think about it.”
Baird’s reply to Walker’s comments was simply “don’t underestimate us”.
One option reported was to race the F1 cars – which have a capacity of over 300km an hour – across the bridge, back through the Cahill expressway, past the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and down Bridge and York streets.
The premier said any routes for the race such as the Harbour Bridge were speculation. Routes, costing and other mechanics would be the job of McGeoch and Hartigan, though the premier would definitely like to see NSW snatch the race.
NSW Labor leader Luke Foley said the idea of a bid had barely survived morning radio, given Walker’s confirmation that Melbourne had another five-year option on the race after 2020.
But the Daily Telegraph, which last year used Baird in its own advertising campaign, immediately got behind a Sydney Grand Prix bid.
“The trouble is, besides the cars and drivers, Melbourne does not offer that much more to look at,” the Daily Telegraph editorialised.
“The southern capital is featureless and bland. It is hardly a great advertisement for our nation, no matter how many people are watching.”
The NSW election is just two weeks away and in a state which has fixed four-year-term elections, the premier’s considerable lead over his new opponent Foley has taken a lot of the heat and light out of the race.
The two leaders will hold their third debate on ABC on Friday at 7.30pm.
