Surfing event runs up losses and can't pay. Surfing SA is bankrupt. And Surfing Australia has to step in to clear up the debits of its state branch. But there's no money. The South Australian Tourism Dept had to step in to pay local business that put up money in good faith, supporting the surfing event.
The long and short, is that Surfing SA (and Surfing Australia) appear to be running wild, no budgets, no experience and now we know, NO money.
And heads are starting to roll in the SA government. Today, (1 March) SA Tourism announced changes to top staff and the need to save $1.2 million annually.
Sponsors and the government are not going to give any more money to Surfing Australia or the surfing industry. If they do, they will find they could face the same massive losses and more heads will roll in government
Rumour has it the Surfing SA CEO was sacked. But he's now claiming unfair dismissal. And from all accounts, he has a good case.
All of this has a sense of de ja vu. The British Surfing Association (BSA) was dogged with the same money problems, then one of their staff was sacked, went for unfair dismissal and won. It appears the BSA had been trading insolvent for a while including owing over ?50,000 to the tax office for unpaid taxes.
The British Surfing Association went bankrupt just over 14 months ago.
They say Australia is about 1 year behind the rest of the world.
Could this be a prophecy for the demise of Surfing Australia ?
Sounds like history repeating. Probably the best thing for the Australian surfing industry - is to have a clearing of the decks and get surfing back to the basics - instead of the current illusions of grandeur where Surfing Australia want to control Stand Up Paddle and just about anything that moves (including their puppet people ! ).
Taxpayers slugged for surfing event failurewww.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-07/bailout-taxpayers-kangaroo-island-surfing/3815798There has been a taxpayer-funded bailout of a surfing event on Kangaroo Island.
South Australian Tourism Minister Gail Gago says about $400,000 will go to 16 businesses on the island which helped stage last year's event.
She says the money will be from the existing budget of the South Australian Tourism Commission, which was a sponsor of the competition last November.
Organisers said the remote location, at Vivonne Bay on the island's southern coast, had led to higher costs than expected, a point the Minister has made again today.
"Some of the problems included just the scale of the event, it also being in a very remote location and the very short lead-up time meant that the event was more expensive to stage than anticipated," she said.
"Many of these types of events often don't make money in their first year - for instance the Tour Down Under [cycling] took a number of years to run before it was actually able to pay for itself, so we need to look at these things closely and then make a decision about future events."
Ferry operator Sealink has agreed to write off more than $70,000 it is owed by the event organiser, Surfing SA, but CEO Jeff Ellison hopes the surf event has a future.
"I think there were a lot of once up set up costs, environmental assessments and things like that done, some extra boardwalks that were put in place and tracks to keep people away from the natural environment, so those sort of costs were pretty significant as set up costs and we won't incur those again," he said.
Change at top for troubled tourism bodyABC Updated March 1, 2012, 1:37 pm
http://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/latest/a/-/article/13057893/change-at-top-for-troubled-tourism-body/Tourism Commission CEO Ian Darbyshire is being replaced by chairman Jane Jeffreys as a part-time CEO.
South Australian Tourism Minister Gail Gago has announced changes for the troubled Commission.
"These changes do not reflect [the CEO's] performance in any way whatsoever," she said.
"What it does reflect is the need to drive efficiencies and bring about cost savings."
Ms Gago said the interim arrangements would last for a year at most.
"This is an interim arrangement so we can restructure and reform the Commission to make it flatter," she said.
"Jane Jeffreys has been appointed ... to steer SATC through the reform process.
"Ms Jeffreys has extensive experience working with boards and senior management teams. She is well-placed to undertake these roles."
The Commission has been dogged by problems, including a failed outsourcing of the South Australian Travel Centre and a taxpayer-bailout of losses for a Kangaroo Island surfing festival.
Ms Gago said the Commission board had been asked to find ways to save another $1.2 million annually.
