Dr WOODRUFF - Minister, the events and hospitality output under the Budget Papers, page 310 in the second volume, shows an increase this year followed by a sharp decrease over the forward Estimates and that's output group 5.
Ms WHITE - We've already had a warm up question on this so you should get it right.
Dr WOODRUFF - The footnote says - maybe I wasn't attending to that question but I don't think you asked this in particular - that the variation in events and hospitality primarily reflects the profile and funding for the Mona Foma, Dark Mofo, and event attraction fund initiatives and the current Hawthorn Club agreement. The decrease over the forward Estimate is substantial, down roughly a quarter by 2023-24 to what is being allocated in this financial year. Can you provide the specific funding details for Mona Foma, Dark Mofo, the event attraction fund initiatives that's what's listed in the footnote; and the current Hawthorn Football Club agreement.
Ms COURTNEY - Yes, we can work through those.
Dr WOODRUFF - Thank you.
Ms COURTNEY - Noting that there are still conversations happening with some of those organisations. Do we want to go through them one at time? I might go to Jacqui to work through those.
Ms ALLEN - It's probably worth noting that what's in the Budget Papers reflects the cashflow that's made available to us in terms of working with the organisations It doesn't necessarily completely tie-in with the contract. In terms of Dark MoFo their funding falls away in the 2023 24 financial year. The event attraction fund has concluded by the 2021 22 financial year. Hawthorn Football Club by the 2022 23 financial year, and MonaFoma Festival in the 2021 22 financial year.
Dr WOODRUFF - Do I take it to mean then that the Government is not planning on funding any of those three events past the contractual period?
Ms COURTNEY - No, that's not the correct conclusion. We need to commence and do negotiations before we have any degree of certainty about what future payments might be.
Dr WOODRUFF - Okay. Are there any other organisations or bodies that the Government is undergoing contractual discussions with that don't appear in the Budget Papers because you haven't reached a conclusion? Are there any other organisations that would be filtering in there over the forward Estimates?
Ms COURTNEY - There is a very wide breadth of events from quite small to quite large when we're talking about the big variance in those ones. I feel confident Jacqui can talk about the breadth of the events that are funded within the events portfolio.
Depending on the event itself, there are different funding mechanisms for events to apply through to be funded. We have these signature events that are very high profile and indeed have funding deeds, we also have funding mechanisms for smaller community style events. Perhaps Jacqui could expand on that.
Ms ALLEN - Yes, we do have those smaller events. In relation to the larger events, or the signature events as the minister referred to them, we do need to commence and conclude the fee negotiations with the organisations before we would settle that funding. It's probably further complicated this year by the fact that we've been in negotiation with almost all events about whether they will cancel, postpone or deliver some kind of reduced activity. It's not possible for us to go through all of those arrangements with the festivals today, but there are a number of different arrangements and there are contract variations for many events that have been put in place this year that responds to the changed circumstance.