Canteen Worker link said:
Tookey, maybe I am taking the bait but to say that Rudd dislikes sport is simply crap.
You are right we will be lucky to see a Federal cent but the reasons for this are much more complex. In an era to cut spending to peg interest rates a lot of worthwhile things will be cut. Other sports are crying foul. (I am avoiding the party political here - it is not the personal view of one PM but the national interest.) Sadly Manly won't get the funds from the Feds. (The promises prior to the last election from the other lot were merely a last ditch attempt to shore up some last minute support for a dying cause.)
As far as the State goes there is a glimmer of hope, though it might be easier if you were a nympho town planner or a developer!!!!
Rudd is a well known anti sport geek and the sporting cuts that he has made already confirm this. The government has a S**tload of surplus income and yet they cut funding to these sporting bodies that was already promised by the previous government before the election was announced.
Maybe they should reduce the number of politicians and government departments/red tape instead.
It would be a different story if he redirected this funding to places like Brookie oval etc but he hasn't.
Sporting groups 'not told of govt cuts'
AAP - February 6, 2008, 6:26 pm
Rugby union and rugby league groups and the Victorian Racing Club have been dealt a blow with unexpected funding cuts from the new federal government.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner on Wednesday announced $25 million of commonwealth taxpayers money would be withheld from the Brisbane-based Australian Rugby Academy.
He is also withholding $5 million from the Victorian Racing Club (VRC) for an alternative water program and $10 million from the National Rugby League which was to be used to build a hall of fame.
The decisions are the first concrete announcements to come out of Labor's razor gang which is aiming to help drive the nation's surplus to 1.5 per cent of GDP in time for the May budget.
Cuts made by the razor gang will be over and above the $10 billion already identified by Labor before the election.
The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said it had already spent $500,000 drawing up plans for the academy which was to be built next to Ballymore Stadium.
"We had a commitment from the previous government," ARU chief executive John O'Neill said.
"We were told the money was in the bank. We engaged architects, undertook feasibility studies and opened discussions with proposed tenants.
"Those exercises alone mean we have already spent around $500,000."
VRC chairman Rod Fitzroy said he had no idea the funding had been withdrawn until Mr Tanner made the announcement in a speech to the National Press Club.
"We just don't think they have dealt with this particularly fairly," Mr Fitzroy told AAP.
"The project has no political affiliation. The grant that was made for Flemington was on the basis of a detailed submission."
Mr Fitzroy said he was even more surprised by the decision given its environmental benefits.
"We have to reduce our reliance on potable water.
"We are happy to see this tested as an appropriate project for government funding."
As early as Wednesday morning Queensland rugby chairman Peter Lewis believed the grant to create a major new national academy for young rugby players was still valid.
"I don't believe for one moment that the Rudd government would consider this grant inappropriate, given there are some 250,000 young rugby players in Australia actually involved in this great sport," Mr Lewis said in a newsletter.
But on Wednesday night he was in shock.
"I feel like a lineout jumper whose lifters have suddenly walked off with me still in midair," Mr Lewis said in a statement.
"One of the points made at the time was that in the 11 years of the Howard government, federal capital grants for sport in Queensland had totalled less than $1 million.
"The $25 million was to kick-start a project that would be self-supporting and cashflow positive, with benefits for the state, country and region and any profits being reinvested in the game of rugby."
The National Rugby League was not immediately available for comment.</p>