IN an effort to promote and support Australian motorsport I recently joined my colleague Luke Gosling OAM, the federal member for Solomon, to launch the ‘Parliamentary Friends of Motorsports’ group
Luke and I have a passion for motorsport that we wish to share with our Canberra colleagues, no matter what their political persuasion, in the hope of creating bipartisan support for this important Australian industry.
Motorsport is not only crowd-pleasing entertainment, and a passion enjoyed by hundreds of amateur participants, it also creates billions of dollars and thousands of jobs for the Australian economy.
The ‘Motorsport: Economic contribution to the Australian Economy 2021’ report, released last year, estimated that the total gross annual output of Australian motorsport is $8.6 billion.
The report found that the motorsport industry provided $3.1 billion in direct output, and $5.5 billion of indirect output to the Australian economy, based on pre-Covid figures.
As well as the participants, there are thousands of volunteers working behind the scenes, without whom Australian motorsports – from the Formula One Grand Prix to local club championships – would cease to exist.
The report also found that the industry supported 16,900 direct jobs and a further 29,900 indirect jobs in 2019. About 18,900 unpaid officials and volunteers were also involved, creating a total workforce of 65,700 people.
Prior to the pandemic, almost 10,000 events were held throughout the country, attracting thousands of competitors and fans each week. These events also benefit other sectors of the economy, such as tourism, hospitality, retail, and entertainment.
With all these obvious benefits, I believe we all should be doing what we can to support Australian motorsport and I hope that our new group the ‘Parliamentary Friends of Motorsports’ will assist in this process.
