Australians pay $41 million for Catholic World Youth Day. (1 Viewer)

[Kwayera]

Australian taxpayers will pay $41 million to compensate the racing industry for quitting their traditional home of Royal Randwick during World Youth Day.

The bill will be split equally between the State and Federal governments, with $10 million of the total being a contingency fund in case the racecourse is damaged.

It will cover the cost of relocating 700 horses, staff and anxilliary services to Rose Hill and Warwick Farm.

The Australian Jockey Club, which has refused to sign an access agreement while negotiations for compensation proceeded, is expected to hand over the site to the Catholic Church for construction works for a 10-week period.

The agreement, thrashed out over four months during which the racecourse became a quarantine centre for horses caught by the equine flu outbreak, will give certainty to the event and help organisers prepare for the planned visit of Pope Benedict XVI, next July.

The event will be the highlight of the six-day international gathering for young Catholics.

With less than nine months before the Mass, and substantial site works yet to be started, the church now faces a monumental task to get the racecourse ready in time.

This includes building an altar for the Pope, who is expected to draw as many as 500,000 worshippers to the overnight Mass.

Racing NSW chief executive, Peter Vlandys, welcomed the breakthrough, saying that many people did not appreciate the magnitude of the relocation effort.

"The NSW Racing industry has always recognised this is a world signature event but it shouldn't be subsidised financially by the racing industry. All we have requested is we be at break-even point and we believe we have been able to achieve this and we thank the State and Federal governments for the good faith in their negotiations."

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/40m-to-dump-youth-day/2007/11/15/1194766837859.html

 

[Captain Gh3y]

More worthwhile than the farken Commonwealth games.

 

[volition]

Yea i heard about this, what a poor use of taxpayer money hey. Sif the church isn't rich enough to buy its way in anyway.

 

[katie_tully]

I'm pretty pissed about this actually. Catholic Church is the richest organisation in the world, fuck off and fund your own shit assholes.

 

[Enteebee]

Meh at that cost it'll still be bringing a lot more money in.

 

[Kwayera]

Meh at that cost it'll still be bringing a lot more money in.

Apparently the total tourist revenue was estimated at about $150 million, $95 million of which has already been spent in preparation. I don't have a source on hand for those figures, but yeah, not that much revenue.

 

[Captain Gh3y]

Meh at that cost it'll still be bringing a lot more money in.

Doesn't matter, it could be any other kind of event but once u mention religion all sense of reason goes out the window and the outrage starts.

 

[Iron]

I agree. Art gallerys and museums arent very profitable either.
The economy is everything

 

[katie_tully]

No, they're not, but this is an example of the Governments inability to separate the Church and the State. I don't see them funding extravagent amounts to every other religious organisation.

The outrage I have with this is how much bloody money the Church has - fund your own YouthDay

 

[volition]

Yeah, not only am I annoyed at the expenditure of taxpayer dollars (only about 1/4 of australia is catholic), I'm just annoyed that they're going to be coming here and spreading their lies and misinformation. I hope the trend towards atheism or agnosticism continues.

 

[Captain Gh3y]

Doesn't matter, it could be any other kind of event but once u mention religion all sense of reason goes out the window and the outrage starts.

And before anyone starts with the separation of church rubbish, if you think that Hillsong or the Exclusive Brethren control the government then this could never happen considering they hate the Catholic Church

 

[katie_tully]

And before anyone starts with the separation of church rubbish, if you think that Hillsong or the Exclusive Brethren control the government then this could never happen considering they hate the Catholic Church

I don't get that. So what if they hate each other? For some reason the government funds Hillsong and the Church excessively. THey don't need government funds, theyve got enough deluded people to fund it.

 

[Enteebee]

- It will bring some money into the local economy.
- It is a huge, culturally important event on the world scale.
- 25% of Australians are catholics... a pretty big segment of the community.

IDK, I support it...

 

[Magicana]

Most of the cash in the church is tied up in things which cannot really be sold. Collection plates only go so far.

 

[Captain Gh3y]

I don't get that. So what if they hate each other? For some reason the government funds Hillsong and the Church excessively. THey don't need government funds, theyve got enough deluded people to fund it.

How does the government fund the Catholic Church? This is more for an event than funding the Church as such.

 

[Kwayera]

If the Church can't afford to hold the event, then it shouldn't hold the damn event. I'm sorry, but this is not what we pay tax for.

 

[Enteebee]

So you object to it on that principle? Which other government subsidised events are you against? :/

 

[Kwayera]

Yeah, I object to it on principle. I'd have the same objection if the government was using my tax dollars to pay for World Islamic Day or World Jewish Day or World Atheist Day or whatever. It's an inappropriate use of compulsory tax monies.

 

[Enteebee]

Yeah, I object to it on principle. I'd have the same objection if the government was using my tax dollars to pay for World Islamic Day or World Jewish Day or World Atheist Day or whatever. It's an inappropriate use of compulsory tax monies.

Oh, so the principle is that it's wrong if it's a religious event? Why them in particular?

 

[volition]

How does the government fund the Catholic Church?

The Purple Economy

It gives tax breaks to charities (and heaps of religions just jump in to the charity category and get tax breaks). This link above is more about the purple economy in the world, I couldn't find the specific one for Australia, but I remember the same guy talking about separation of church and state in Australia too. (the author is australian i think)

But of course, saying we need separation of church and state is like saying we need separation of snake and reptile. They're the same thing! (one is just more powerful than the other currently)

This is more for an event than funding the Church as such.

Yeah, but it's still funding the indoctrination of little children with lies and misinformation, which I don't like.