Rudd scraps $25m rugby grant
Former Prime Minister John Howard announced funding for the project last June but Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner today announced the new Government would not be providing the funds.
Well that was on the cards – the wrong people play the game.
Tanner lays the cuts squarely on the Coalition;
Some of the former Liberal government’s last-minute spending commitments will be revised or abandoned. This irresponsible spending will be cut …….The grant was announced in the June so hardly qualifies as a last minute gasp from the Libs. Still, when you have the keys to the treasury benches you can say what you like. The ARU and QRU are not happy as they were told that it was happening. They have announced it to the world and now you can imagine who they’re going to blame when they announce to the Rugby world that it’s now not happening. If spending money on a Rugby Academy is irresponsible then the guys and gals at the AIS had better look for another berth. It’s the same sort of thing – can’t have sporting elites get preferential treatment. Other cuts include; Innovation ambassadors program, Flemington Racecourse’s alternative water strategy, advertising programs [for] the simplified superannuation initiative, Fishing hall of fame, The Growing Regions program, and drought relief to farmers . The ALP get the call but the word ‘reallocation’ keeps on springing to mind. Parallel cuts to the arts will, of course, stop me thinking that.