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Like a lot of sporting fans, I am extremely excited about Liverpool coming to the Adelaide Oval for their exhibition game against Adelaide United on July 20.
What a wonderful thing for the state, sporting fans and the promotion of the Adelaide Oval to the rest of the world.
South Australia will generate good money through tourism as well. All wonderful positives to a very uplifting story.
But I do not for the life of me understand why the state government is refusing to reveal the appearance fee. It is a very closely guarded secret.
We are wading through a very murky political sea at the moment in this country, and anything that any government does will be closely scrutinised. To not be upfront about what the taxpayers are contributing is dangerous. It only annoys, and encourages speculation, which can be even more damaging.
The same issue occurred when cyclist Lance Armstrong became the main draw card at three Tours Down Under. The taxpayers never found out what it cost them, and in the end Lance was uncovered as a drug cheat.
Now some would say transparency should be considered as non negotiable, while the other side of the argument suggests releasing data to the public doesn’t always lead to good results.
South Australia Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis has been on the hustings over the last couple of days explaining the government’s easing, and to be fair it does make sense.
Liverpool would only come to Adelaide if the financials were kept confidential. Brisbane is also host a match and if Liverpool’s fee for the Adelaide match was public knowledge, it would dilute Brisbane’s negotiating power.
And the SA government do not want the figure made public, as it would also weaken their bargaining power to lure other headline acts to the state.
But transparency is becoming a major and novel value of democracy. It is been embraced by governments as a preferred reform strategy for improving governance.
I understand and appreciate Tom’s predicament, but as I have already stated, politics in this country is in an extremely fragile state at the moment, and governments need to be careful they don’t do anything that could break their relationship with the voters.
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