Wednesday, October 16, 2013

As promised, a Magpie mid-week special examining the validity of the specially commissioned report into the benefit of the V8 event's value to the Townsville community.


The Magpie does not expect this post to break any box office records, but the following information and consequent argument is published as a matter of record, unlikely to be published anywhere else. It involves questions of public money and proper governance. And frankly, that is the old bird's only interest in the issue.

For those who want to, they can make up their own minds

The V8 event is a done deal, to which The Magpie is wholly indifferent (good advertising for the city, though), but the old bird is always interested in transparency when it comes to the ratepayer dollar. So the initial reluctance for the council to release the report, and its author’s continuing refusal to fully disclose both the data and methodology he used to reach what is a most favorable conclusion for the principal commissioning organization, requires the information to be easily and publicly available for independent scrutiny. There are just two links following at www.townsvillemagpie.com.au


Put this link into your menu bar ...


https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=141958d8e6716dcb&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D4c8d7afa45%26view%3Datt%26th%3D141958d8e6716dcb%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26zw&sig=AHIEtbQy3dtYkNQM04f6dIfiGAKXER1qxQ



for the full 57-page report commissioned by the V8 organisation, the Townsville City Council and Townsville Enterprise.

The report controversially claims the benefit to the Townsville community to be almost twice that of previous estimates by the same researchers.

The $11,000 report was compiled by a team at James Cook University, led by Dr Murray Prideaux.



The council finally released the report after persistent requests and questioning about its validity by Mike Shearer, one of several analysts who says the findings appear inflated and unsupported by full and proper academic peer review.

Mr  Shearer, long an articulate opponent of the event, gives his analysis in this link .... 


https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=141b0cd9b1e1a0ad&mt=application/msword&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D4c8d7afa45%26view%3Datt%26th%3D141b0cd9b1e1a0ad%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26zw&sig=AHIEtbQAZkNjf6v4LW4PPVGVXd-nJ9aRTA


and why he concludes that the findings are unacceptable. Rather than being a benefit, Mr Shearer, a former JCU staffer and experienced research analyst, mounts an argument that the V8 Super car event may actually be a cost to the community and only of benefit to the promoters. His argument is detailed and raises questions that deserve to be asked.



5 comments:

  1. Nope - those links don't work either

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, sorry about that Bully Boy (and everyone else). The problem seems to be with recent changes made at The Pie's US blog host. Working on it ... all the info is there, just working out the techno stuff.

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  3. http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/asbestos-forces-open-air-court-session/story-fnjfzs4b-1226741325006

    More exposure to other offices but, not their own. Not one news story on their death kill office!

    ReplyDelete
  4. There's no real benefit to hosting the V8's apart from hotels.
    The rest is spent there on the grounds.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pie,

    I am dying to read this report. Can you please amend the link so they work?

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete