Zoo financially up the creek

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stumpjumper
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Zoo financially up the creek

#1 Post by stumpjumper » Tue Jun 21, 2011 6:47 pm

Today the government paid the Zoo $2 million to alleviate its debt of $26 million. The debt is due, says the Zoo, to visitor numbers and sponsorships falling below projected levels, because of the GFC. But the Zoo management supports the claim in the same set of projections that its panda bears have injected $60 million into the economy.

I'm posting this as yet another example of business models based more on wishful thinking than anything else in the push to justify expenditure.

There is a long list in this state of optimistic business models produced by project promoters. While private finance is very wary of the provenance of such models, enthusiastic (or naive) politicians can usually be convinced to fund projects supported by dodgy estimates. Politicians react almost instinctively, and positively, to tempting offers of the publicity of a plaque unveiling. The publicly-funded projects are virtually risk-free for politicians. It takes a while for a project to be seen as a failure; the blame is rarely pinned on one person and in the period between the grand opening and the realisation that the project is a dud a smart politician can milk the forthcoming opening for all it's worth.

The expansion of the Adelaide Zoo is a perfect example. The old Zoo had chugged along for decades, not costing us too much.

Then everything changed. A new administration took over. Vast sums were spent on everything from animal accommodation to the zoo director's house.

Then came Wang Wang and Funi, and the hopes (and expenditure) pinned on them. Money was spent like water on a grandiose scheme centred on the panda bears. Additional staff were hired, many at high managerial salaries.

And woe to he who questioned whether two slow moving bears could support all this expense. Anyone voicing that opinion at a 'friends of the zoo' meeting was quietly asked not to bother coming back. I know - I asked the question.

With Mike Rann and his henchmen making as much mileage as possible out of the huge difference Wang Wang and Funi would make to our lives, it was heresy to ask to see the basis of the numbers.

So why is the panda-led zoo expansion in the red? The GFC, of course, according to the zoo director. Remember the GFC? It was a few years ago now, and affected Australia less than almost any other country, but it can still be wheeled out as an excuse for bad planning. No politician is prepared to front the cameras.

It doesn't matter anyway. The politicians have already benefited, and the taxpayer as usual will pay the losses and subsidise future operations.

The failed National Wine Centre was going to get 3,000 visitors per week, and had to be built at Hackney rather than Waite Institute or Roseworthy where wine making is taught because - get this - it had to be within walking distance of the major international hotels!

The failed Newport Quays development was going to provide hundreds of full time construction jobs for ten years... the tens of millions being spent to move the 24 employees of the SA Film Corporation from downmarket Hendon to leafy Glenside cannot possibly return the claimed amounts.

...and there are plenty of other examples. Many are carefully structured, like the AO redevelopment, to avoid the scrutiny of the Public Works Committee.

If for no other reason than to stop it happening yet again, we should analyse what went wrong, yet again, with this hyped public project.

Sadly, any move to analyse what went wrong (again) will not get much support from the main beneficiaries of the projects - the politicians.

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#2 Post by crawf » Tue Jun 21, 2011 7:41 pm

http://www.blogger.com/

For the record the Adelaide Zoo looks much better since the upgrade..

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#3 Post by AtD » Tue Jun 21, 2011 9:05 pm

btw stumpy, is this you being singled out on Crikey for a comment on Andrew Bolt's column?
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2 ... mpetition/

I almost fell out my chair.

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#4 Post by Will » Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:21 pm

SJ, so you would rather than we did not try, and just continued to plod along?

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Zoo financially up the creek

#5 Post by dsriggs » Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:30 am

Obviously the fault of Media Mike and his henchman.

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#6 Post by peas_and_corn » Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:41 am

Will wrote:SJ, so you would rather than we did not try, and just continued to plod along?
I disagree with how far he takes his hubris at times, but I also disagree with the sort of argument that if someone opposes a development then they are anti-development NIMBY AdelaideNow posters. SJ has for a while just argued that when public money is being spent, accountability is important because the people who are spending the money are spending other people's money. I disagree with how he expresses it, but I sure as hell agree with the sentiment.

On a related note, what is the ownership structure of the zoo? Is it owned by the government, private, a PPP... ?

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#7 Post by Vee » Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:09 am

Alexander Downer brokered the deal way back in 2007.
http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/relea ... 12_07.html
Media Release
6 September 2007
A pair of pandas for Adelaide Zoo

Adelaide Zoo is to host two Giant Pandas on loan from the China Wildlife Conservation Association. The agreement was signed today in Sydney in the presence of Prime Minister Howard and President Hu Jintao.

The agreement will see Adelaide zoo host Wangwang, a two-year-old male panda and Funi, a one-year-old female. Wangwang and Funi, bred in captivity at the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, will call Adelaide home for ten years.

Adelaide Zoo CEO Dr Chris West hopes the pair will breed in their new home in Adelaide. The loan of the pandas occurs under an agreement on cooperation in Giant Panda conservation., part of a worldwide program that aims to ensure the long term survival of the iconic species.

The agreement will see Adelaide Zoo make an important contribution to Panda conservation in China. The cooperative program will contribute to a self-sustaining wild population of Giant Pandas in protected habitat areas in China.

Wangwang and Funi’s stay in Adelaide will be a lasting reminder of the warm relations between Australia and China and the successful visit of President Hu to Australia.

I am very pleased to have been part of bringing today’s agreement to fruition, and thank the Chinese Government for its excellent cooperation.

Cooperation on Panda conservation is another sign of our shared commitment to the preservation of the world’s natural heritage.
We are proud to help ensure a bright future for the Giant Panda.

Through sustained and cooperative effort , our children and their children will be able also to see this unique animal.
Further information, photos and video are available from the Adelaide Zoo at http://www.zoossa.com.au/.
Media Inquiries: Mr Downer's office
And ZoosSA is a non-profit conservation charity.
http://www.zoossa.com.au/
We provide conservation education, as well as supporting and conducting many conservation, breeding and research programmes.
As part of our conservation efforts we run Adelaide and Monarto Zoos and Warrawong Sanctuary.
You can become a member.
http://www.zoossa.com.au/getting-involved/membership

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#8 Post by stumpjumper » Thu Jun 23, 2011 12:45 am

AtD wrote:
btw stumpy, is this you being singled out on Crikey for a comment on Andrew Bolt's column?
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2 ... mpetition/
Yes, that was me. I'm no flunkey for Bolt, though. I should also have qualified the comment by saying it referred specifically to The Age rather than Fairfax's other publications.

In addition to The Age's well-documented 'progressive' bias, the paper's computer writer Louisa Hearn has an irrational dislike of Apple products which she she is happy to transmit via her column:
Apple laptops fourth in reliability: study
Louisa Hearn

Image

Mac fans are often quick to claim superior performance from their Apple laptops, but a study from a warranty supplier in the US has ranked the reliability of their hardware fourth behind Asus, Toshiba and Sony.
The reliability study, conducted by SquareTrade, was based on 30,000 individual laptop units covered by its in-house warranty plans.
Look at the graph. The big news is hardly that Apple came fourth. Surely HP coming last would be noteworthy. Perhaps Ms Hearn was typing her article on one.
Last edited by stumpjumper on Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#9 Post by stumpjumper » Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:48 am

In defence of my complaints about flawed public administration in this state, consider this.

In business, as in many other fields, the healthiest, most robust, most successful ventures are the ones which have grown naturally in response to a genuine need. Put simply, where demand drives supply.

Sometimes it's worth subsidising supply, but not often. But many government-backed projects in Adelaide are heavily subsidised, openly or not, without adequate justification.

Such artificial situations struggle without 'life support' - generally injections of taxpayers' cash.

That's what I complain about - particularly where there is 'taxation without representation'.

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#10 Post by Hooligan » Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:41 am

Maybe if they didn't slug us so much to visit the zoo people would actually go.

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#11 Post by Wayno » Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:50 am

stumpjumper wrote:So why is the panda-led zoo expansion in the red? The GFC, of course, according to the zoo director. Remember the GFC? It was a few years ago now, and affected Australia less than almost any other country, but it can still be wheeled out as an excuse for bad planning.
Australia clearly has a 2 speed economy, just ask any non-mining sector small business owner. Whether the slow lane is GFC related or not, the populus is saving more and spending less.

The zoo is also an expensive outing ($85 entry fee for a family of four. Add PT/parking fees, a grandparent, some drinks/snacks/lunch, a souvenir and you're at $150+), no surprise it suffers during tough times.

I'm also unsure how well the Adelaide Zoo is marketed interstate.
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#12 Post by metro » Thu Jun 23, 2011 1:13 pm

Wayno wrote:I'm also unsure how well the Adelaide Zoo is marketed interstate.
Mayve they need some bus-stop posters in Melbourne with a cute picture of the pandas, but have a red bar at the top and bottom with "ONLY IN ADELAIDE" in big bold text. :cheers:

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#13 Post by Nathan » Thu Jun 23, 2011 1:19 pm

I recall there being a rather bland billboard that was put up both here and interstate with the line "who cares about the grand prix, we've got pandas" or something to that effect. There were pretty bad.

Edit: Here's an article on the ads http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... 5822894031

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#14 Post by crawf » Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:19 pm

Just as cringe-worthy as the West End adverts

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Re: Zoo financially up the creek

#15 Post by dsriggs » Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:31 pm

"Who cares about the Grand Prix? We have a chip on our shoulder!!"

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