Can baseball star deliver return on $325 million deal?

Why baseball's mega-deals dwarf those in other sports can be explained by a number of factors -- some real and others perceived -- according to two leading sports economists.

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The Afghan skiers harboring unlikely Olympic dreams

In a sport often characterized by glitz, glamor, and wealth, the scenes at Bamyan Ski Club in Afghanistan are an anomaly.

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Why victory 'knocked back' Masters champion

He claimed one of the most coveted honors in golf, but winning the Masters led to a year of anguish for Danny Willett.

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How Li Na made $20m in retirement

She may have hung up her tennis racket more than two years ago, but two-time grand slam champion Li Na is still winning big in business.

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Not even CensusFail turns Australians off e-voting

 

 

Australians are still enthusiastic about e-voting, despite the disruption caused when the online Census system crashed last August.

A survey conducted by Australia Post in August 2016 and carried out after Census night on August 9 asked 1000 adults about their voting experiences in the July federal election and found 73 per cent of them wanted and expected to vote online at the next one in 2019.

Voters surveyed were flexible about where they would vote and what technology to use. People did not mind whether they used a touchscreen in a voting booth or their own device. While many people preferred to vote at home they also agreed that using a touchscreen in a booth could be quicker and speed up election results.

Almost half of those who voted in person during last year’s election moaned that they were stuck in queues to vote, with 20 per cent waiting more than 20 minutes and nearly 50 per cent of voters said it took too long to declare an election result. It took eight days to find out some results in 2016.

But eVoting in a federal election long way from the current reality. NSW elections have allowed people with disabilities and those living in remote areas to vote online or over the phone. ACT voters have been able to vote electronically in polling booths since 2001.

The report said:

“Our survey results indicate that the Census issue has not negatively impacted the attitude of Australian voters towards eVoting,” the Australia Post survey said.

“Australians are clearly ready to consider eVoting. They believe it will make it quicker to vote, quicker to declare a result and will save the government money.”

Australians also raised concerns about eVoting, principally about the risk of cyber attacks on their own device (23 per cent); the privacy of personal data (17 per cent) or the risk of fraud (16 per cent). Some people were also concerned about their vote being traced back to them. 

Despite this enthusiasm for eVoting, almost three-quarters of those surveyed said it was still important to give people a choice and offer other methods of casting a vote.

The survey also backed up voters’ penchant for voting early in elections. In the last election, one-third of Australians voted early, compared with 14 per cent in 2010.

The Australia Post survey found that 17 per cent of people voted in person at an early voting centre, while 14 per cent lodged a postal vote.

But the report cautioned that any framework for e-voting should pay attention to the parable of CensusFail’s ICT meltdown and the furore surrounding data privacy in the lead up to the night, which led to some politicians like Nick Xenophon refusing to put their names on Census forms.

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Canberra tree survey cultivates a greener outlook

 

 

In the leafy streets of a city like Canberra, a strong understanding of natural resources will prove invaluable for overcoming the challenges of climate change, sustainability and community expectations.

Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS) recently engaged 1Spatial to analyse and extract aerial laser scanning data to accelerate the process of establishing baseline data for Canberra’s urban tree canopy coverage.

The resulting case study features TCCS and Safe Software’s FME custom workflow for canopy mapping. Using the method established, informative and current data sets can now be used to inform management strategies by overlaying age, density and condition data and proposing future canopy density targets.

The establishment of current baseline data for Canberra’s urban tree canopy coverage was essential to the program. In this respect, two data sets were available: a 2010 ground-based audit of trees in streets, verge areas, open spaces and parks; and new aerial laser scanning LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data for the majority of urban areas across Canberra.

Read more here.

 

This story first appeared in Spatial Source. 

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Red Tape Committee approves booze sales in supermarkets, shops and servos

What the UK can teach Australia about City Deals

Manchester city centre, UK.

Three Australian cities will replicate a UK initiative designed to deliver economic growth, affordable housing and new infrastructure while devolve decisions away from federal government towards state and local government.

City Deals is a UK initiative which began in 2012 with eight deals for cities outside London, including Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool and Leeds and covering a population of 12.7 million. They have now been introduced across 38 UK city-regions.

Under City Deals, state government and local councils decide what needs to be done to lift economic growth locally and they set targets in areas such as jobs, affordable housing and emissions reduction. The deals also include the regional areas around cities.

The scheme emphasises building infrastructure and aims to deliver long-term benefits, such as higher land values, bigger tax receipts, more jobs and increased productivity.

In the UK, most contracts are for ten years and funding often comes from all three levels of government. Local councils’ contributions tend to be lower than that from the other tiers of government, around 10 to 20 per cent, and often includes contributions in kind, such as land transfers and council officers’ time.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is known to be a fan of City Deals for Australia and he has committed to early deals for Townsville, Launceston and Western Sydney. The process for future deals will be announced later.

The Launceston City Deal, signed in September last year, promises to support education, employment and investment and this will include a new university campus in the city centre; revitalising the historic CBD and a new National Institute for Forest Products Innovation Hub.

Under the Launceston deal, $140 million comes from the federal government and $60 million from the Tasmanian government.

The Western Sydney City Deal, which includes the local government areas of the Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Penrith and Wollondilly, seems to have a pretty broad remit.

It will focus on public transport, employment and investment (particularly youth and indigenous employment); more affordable housing by boosting supply and diversity; biodiversity and conservation and arts and culture.

There is no mention of who is paying what under the Western Sydney deal, which is up on the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s website.

To find out more about the UK experience and what it could mean for Australia, Government News caught up with Scottish urban economist and affordable housing specialist Professor Duncan MacLennan, who has been involved with the Glasgow City Deal.

What City Deals can do 

But first, let’s start off with what City Deals could do for Australia. Prof MacLennan explains that cities are ‘core areas driving national productivity’ and he says City Deals have been valuable because they have placed infrastructure at the centre of city thinking and coherent investment strategies.  

While cities drive growth, the income and tax receipts from this goes mainly to state or federate government – there is a disproportionate flow back – while cities are stuck with the problems stemming from growth, like congestion, pollution and a shortage of affordable housing.

Indeed, Prof MacLennan says there is some evidence to suggest that some skilled workers are fleeing cities, fed up with long commutes and expensive housing.

City Deals attempt to reverse this situation by channelling some of the money back into city-regional areas.

Prof MacLennan says: “In the absence of changing the fiscal system, it’s a reasonably appropriate mechanism for getting money where it needs to be.

“The main benefit to City Deals is the new focus on infrastructure [that has] raised local capacity to deal with it and more coherent investment strategies.”

What they the deals don’t do, he says, is lead to a better system of sub-national government because they are uneven in their impact. In the UK, the deals are not open to everyone and they have not been rolled out evenly.

Since City Deals began, Prof MacLennan says that metropolitan authorities have strengthened their capacity to do big infrastructure planning and they have got much better at making the economic case for infrastructure investment.

“Big City Deals now know much more about infrastructure planning and how to do it well than central government,” he says. “There is work being done that wasn’t being done three or four years’ ago.”

This point was picked up in the UK National Audit Office’s (NAO) report on the first wave of eight City Deals, calling them a ‘catalyst to manage devolved funding and responsibilities’.

The report also commended the deals for cutting through funding complexities and giving cities direct access to central government decision makers, which in turn helped them secure funding and support from other government departments.

“This helped cities agree deals aligned to their ambitions and local priorities,” said the NAO’s report.

But the process is not without its problems.

Resources, as ever, have not been there to help cities build their capacity locally. Local government was expected to pool its resources and given no funding to support additional management capacity. This can lead to skills shortages, for example in forecasting and modelling.

“It is not clear, however, whether this approach is sustainable in the context of wider reductions in the government’s funding for local authorities. Departments’’ resource constraints have impacted on the government’s capacity to make bespoke, wide-ranging deals with more places,” The NAO noted.

Other criticisms of the UK model have included the inherent difficulty of uneven power relations between the three levels of government; the centralised control exerted when deals are negotiated; the lack of transparency around the criteria for cities to be selected for a new; vagueness around the aims, monitoring and evaluation of some City Deals and extra pressure on the already highly constrained budgets of local councils.

Another downside of the City Deals, says Prof MacLennan, is raising expectations.

“People think this is going to solve all their problems and don’t pay attention to other programs that are reducing and changing.”

It can also open up gaps between the haves and the have nots: those areas which have City Deals and those that do not.

Prof MacLennan says: “The differences may become so great that the government may have to come in and think about what it does for lagging cities.”

But the neediest areas are often those where councils that may not have the organisation or the skilled workforce to make their case for a City Deal.

Recommendations for Australian City Deals

Good economic modelling is important from the get go, says Prof MacLennan, because it helps predict how infrastructure investment decisions affect the behaviour of individual households and businesses over several years.

This can involve leveraging expertise from the university sector.

For example, northern English City Deals for cities like Greater Manchester and Newcastle saw local government teaming up with universities for economic modelling and analysis.

But Prof MacLennan says Sydney does not appear to have any economic metropolitan modelling ready to use.

“You need to pay more attention to what you need to know before you start,” he says. “Otherwise you rely on consultants’ reports that are rarely ever in the public domain and never peer reviewed so that nobody knows what’s in them other than the government.”

Once projects are up and running, it is essential to monitor their progress against targets and evaluate them effectively, although it is not always easy to know what would have happened were a City Deal not in place.

“What matters is the monitoring and the learning from good monitoring,” he says.

Some benefits are fiendishly tricky to quantify. For example, gauging economic gains from sustainability initiatives is difficult when there is no carbon price in Australia.

Milestones are part of funding deals and if they are not met it means the next tranche of cash could be held back. The UK now has its own dedicated evaluation panel for City Deals.

Putting in enough capital initially is important. Prof MacLennan says the volume of capital going into growing cities like Edinburgh, London and Manchester is not currently enough to resolve the issues these cities face.

Exploring innovative methods of finance or making use of old ones could prove useful for Australian City Deals.

The Scottish city of Aberdeen recently launched its own government bond but Prof MacLennan points out that cities have limited control over their tax affairs (the key to paying back bonds) and says further fiscal reform would be needed. If this is fixed, he anticipates other major cities could follow suit.

In general, he says the UK has not come up with very exciting alternative methods of funding under City Deals.  

On the whole, Australia is in a good position to implement City Deals and make them work.

Prof MacLennan says that the Australian federal government and the states and territories have been much better at making infrastructure decisions than the UK.

“I think there is a track record here off trying to think coherently about infrastructure … but the better City Deals, like Manchester, would have relevance to what happens in metropolitan Sydney.”

“The images of Australia aren’t about the bush any more, it’s the cities.”

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Car giant Jaguar: An electric contender?

The skies are gray, the air is cold and conditions on track are slippery, but nothing can dampen Adam Carroll's enthusiasm as he hurtles around Nutts Corner Circuit.

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Johnson man to beat at Masters - Spieth

Jordan Spieth has finished no lower than second in his three Masters appearances and he feels he can beat anyone when playing at his best.

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Teenager skier defies gravity to complete world first

Unbelievable, jaw-dropping, astonishing. Watch it once, watch it twice, watch it again and again and Andri Ragettli's incredible world-first feat is always majestic.

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Tattooed 'fire warrior' turns down NFL chance

Psalm Wooching could have been an NFL star -- but he's chosen to play rugby instead.

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Ronaldo bust draws mirth after airport unveiling

Cristiano Ronaldo has got the lot, accumulating trophies, medals and personal honors at a rapid rate during a remarkable career.

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Video ref stars in soccer international

It's a sight often seen in tennis, rugby and cricket -- but not football.

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Sharapova happy to have 'day job back'

It is a sporting return which has generated mixed reactions, but as Maria Sharapova prepares for her first competitive match following a doping ban the five-time grand slam champion says she feels vindicated and empowered.

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Boycott averted as US women's team agree to four-year deal

US women's team agree to four-year deal with USA Hockey

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Winning at sailing -- the Navy SEALs way

Some see sailing as a sedate sport, but you know the game has changed when the "athletes" are described as "superhumans" and undergo special forces training.

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The secret to Mikaela Shiffrin's meteoric rise

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The last stand: Land titles sale

Time is running out for opponents of the land titles lease sell-off.

 

As the minutes tick down on the deadline for private sector bids to run the NSW land titles registry opposition to the sale is intensifying.  

The Berejiklian Government’s plans to flog the only profitable part of the Land and Property Information (LPI) agency have met with widespread anger from surveyors, unions, property developers, real estate agents, community groups and lawyers, who argue that it will debase the quality of the service and make it more expensive for ordinary people, as well causing skilled LPI staff to run for the door.

Land titles currently makes a net profit of about $130 million a year. The government will rake in $2 billion by giving the private sector a 35-year lease to operate the registry but Labor has argued this dwarfs the revenue forfeited over the same period. The windfall is earmarked to rebuild Parramatta Stadium and for renovating ANZ Stadium.

Despite the majority of people being blissfully unaware of the system until they need it, land titles underpins billions of dollars spent in the NSW economy and a $1.2 trillion real estate market.

Land titles define legal ownership and boundaries of land parcels and they are integral to buying and selling property, as well as taking out and paying off mortgages, leasing and inheriting property.

A public rally protesting against the sell-off on Tuesday in Sydney’s CBD was followed by a last ditch attempt by Labor to introduce a private member’s bill into NSW Parliament to repeal the previous legislation, which allowed the lease.

NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley said he hoped to shut down the privatisation before bidders had to finalise their bids with the government, which he said was tomorrow (Thursday).

Mr Foley  warned that allowing the deal to go ahead could throw the system into jeopardy and possibly hand control and access to NSW property records to an overseas-based consortia.

He said it would push up conveyancing and land title fees, force home owners to take out title insurance and move 400 jobs offshore.

Labor maintains that the sell-off will forfeit the $4 billion revenue which would be generated over 35 years that could instead be channeled towards essential services.

“The only people that want this sale to go ahead are the Premier, the Treasurer and a handful of bankers and lawyers who stand to receive a fat pay cheque once the sale goes through,” Mr Foley said.

“Among the bidders are consortia that are based offshore, which means they can avoid paying tax, make a buck and can shrug off their responsibility to the people of this state.”

But NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet appear to be pushing on.

They have said the new private provider would invest in new technology and faster processing times could be expected, improving the service for consumers and for industry.

Moving to reassure Australians, Mr Perrottet said the data would remained owned by the government and not be stored offshore.

Ms Berejiklian has said the state would continue to guarantee any title and compensate any claims through the Torrens Assurance Fund.

But a gaff over GST on LPI fees has proved a headache for Mr Perrottet. GST is currently not payable on these fees but this will change if the service is privatised.

To protect consumers from price hikes, Mr Perrottet has instructed potential bidders to take 10 per cent off the fees, whereas fees had previously been capped at the CPI.  

Shadow Finance, Services and Property Minister Clayton Barr has argued that this is an oversight and slashes the land titles registry’s value from between $200 million to $250 million to potential buyers, yielding less for the taxpayer than was originally forecast. 

Greens MP Justin Field said the government should abandon the sale of the ‘world-class land titling service’.

“The more we find out about the sale of this monopoly and essential service, the more opposition grows,” Mr Field said. “The community is right to be concerned about increasing risk of fraud, misuse of personal data and increasing costs of property purchases as a result of the privatisation.

“The NSW Governments should listen to the experts, LPI staff and the community and stop the sell-off of land titles,” he said.

Mr Field has launched a community petition to stop the privatisation here.

Opponents to the sell-off include the Law Society of NSW, Institute of Surveyors NSW, the Concerned Titles Group, LPI Staff Union, the Public Service Association of NSW and the Real Estate Institute of NSW.

 

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Lionel Messi banned for four matches by FIFA

It is proof that even one of the world's best soccer players is not above the law?

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Fire erupts at big-spending Chinese club's stadium

A blaze has ripped through part of big-spending Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua's home stadium.

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32 amazing sports photos

Take a look at 32 amazing sports photos from March 21 through March 27.

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F1's sleeping giant 'back in business'

The champagne flowed, cheers rang out and "il Tricolore" flags were enthusiastically waved. But behind the scenes there was probably a huge collective sigh of relief.

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Dubai ruler vows to regain 'richest race' crown

The Dubai World Cup has been usurped as the world's richest horse race, but the emirate's ruler says he plans to regain the No. 1 title.

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First blood to Ferrari in opener

Ferrari's win at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne raises hopes that the dominance of Mercedes -- winner of both drivers' and constructors' titles for the past three seasons -- can be challenged in 2017.

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Johnson enhances status as Masters favorite

Can anyone beat Dustin Johnson? With the Masters a little over a week away, the world No. 1 enhanced his status as favorite for the Green Jacket with a third successive tournament victory.

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Soccer star Okocha shows off golf-ball skills

Jay-Jay Okocha, the former Nigerian footballer, was filmed doing keepie uppies at the Kenya Open -- with a golf ball.

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NCAA playoffs: Underdog through to Final 4

The North Carolina Tarheels punched their ticket to the Final Four in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday, knocking off the Kentucky Wildcats 75-73 in the NCAA South Regional Final.

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Should a slave-era song be used as a sports chant?

"I looked over Jordan, what do I see, Coming for to carry me home. A band of angels coming after me, Coming for to carry me home."

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Chatfest on value capture while developers pocket huge windfalls

 

 

By Martin Locke, Adjunct Professor, UNSW

There seems to be almost unanimous and vigorous agreement that the pursuit of value capture is a worthwhile initiative in helping us to augment scarce infrastructure funding. However, we seem to be engrossed in writing thought leadership, debating policy and gathering evidence rather than getting on with implementation.

At a time when we are moving forward with massive city building infrastructure projects procrastination is an exercise in value escape rather than value capture. Meanwhile there are countless examples where opportunist landholders or developers are making huge windfall profits.

Objections to value capture are categorised in a Trump-like fashion as “fake news”, however we don’t have the courage to announce specific value capture instruments without more homework. Surely, it isn’t that hard. There appears to be general consensus in favour of betterment levies rather than Tax Increment Financing or Developer Contributions. I note the support for broad-based land tax but we are not a nation that has a strong track record in being quick and nimble in the area of tax reform, so I leave that one for the futurists.

We already have used levies and are proposing a Special Infrastructure Contribution (SIC) of $200 /sq.m on new residential property in the Parramatta Light Rail corridor, but why $200 and just on residential developments and why aren’t we announcing at least the intention to introduce a SIC for Sydney Metro West?

Value capture has been described as a funding solution in creating a stream of revenue that can be captured and used to pay for the cost of the upfront infrastructure. But isn’t it also a financing issue? Is not the stream of revenue associated with complex mixed-use property development necessarily long-term in nature and uncertain?

Developers look to progressively de-risk a site with staged development and gradual release to the market with an extended programme designed to garner presales and pre-commitments. I have seen from my own experience that asking developers to pay upfront results in a hefty discount. This leads the State to question whether they are achieving value for money. In theory it is possible to contemplate the sale of development rights or the securitization of prospective value capture revenue streams but at what cost?

Another concept that has raised my eyebrows is the notion of the rail entrepreneur model, whereby we bundle property and infrastructure developers together and ask them to revert with integrated solutions on developing infrastructure with property value capture. I have been told that the Gold Coast Light Rail project came down to the wire on the assessment of commercial property solutions adjacent to the light rail. But Department of Transport and Main Roads put it in the too hard basket and focused on the infrastructure. Nothing could be further from the truth. Investment in property is not the same as investment in infrastructure. They are different assets with different risk/return profiles and appeal to different investor classes. I have found that convincing the State that they are being presented with property development proposals that represent value for money is challenging, whether it relates to integrated transport, health or education precincts. Both property and infrastructure investors continue to wrestle with this issue.

This links to the Federal Government’s Smart Cities Plan and the role of the Commonwealth. I have previously advocated the use of Concessional Loans to allow the Commonwealth to encourage the use of value capture and allow it to become a value-add financing source. This is an example of market failure and the Commonwealth can intervene, address long term risk and uncertainty, ensure an integrated approach and obtain a return. Shouldn’t this be included in the job description for the newly created Infrastructure Financing Unit within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet?

For those who are interested in more information, Martin is running three upcoming workshops on Infrastructure Finance.

• Melbourne, June 15 – 16  
• Brisbane, June 22 – 23 
• Sydney, October 5 – 6 

More information via this link.  

 

About Martin Locke

Adjunct Professor, UNSW- Martin Locke is one of Australia’s leading authorities on infrastructure finance. Martin is a former Partner of PwC, having led their Infrastructure Advisory practice in Sydney over the period 2001-2014, after 23 years in investment banking with Deutsche Morgan Grenfell.

Martin has provided financial and commercial advice on some of Australia’s largest and most complex infrastructure projects including PPPs. He is able to advise on all aspects of the project life cycle from feasibility/business case, through to procurement, financing and financial close. He was the lead financial adviser to Government on Lane Cove Tunnel, NSW Rollingstock, Royal North Shore Hospital Redevelopment, Gold Coast Rapid Transit and Perth Stadium. 

​Martin has held independent consulting roles, peer reviewer, participated on expert panels, steering committees and various board directorships. He is a council member at the International Project Finance Association.

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Australia’s super system is changing

 

 

 

Super changes start 1 July 2017

Australia’s superannuation (super) system is changing.

Your super is your future, so take just one minute to watch the ATO’s new video to find out whether the changes may affect you or someone you know, now or in the future.

Most of the changes, announced in the Australian Government’s May 2016 Budget, will commence from 1 July 2017. These changes were designed to improve the sustainability, flexibility and integrity of Australia’s super system.

If you need to know more, the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) website has detailed information about the super changes and how they will be administered. You can receive alerts via email or RSS feed when new information is published about the super changes by subscribing to ‘Individuals Super’ updates on their website

 

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Australian GP: Vettel beats Hamilton in Melbourne

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel outpaced Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes to win the 2017 Australian Grand Prix.

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Dubai World Cup: 'Amazing' Arrogate stuns rivals

Arrogate overcame a disastrous start to win Saturday's Dubai World Cup and confirm his status as thoroughbred racing's new superstar.

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Hamilton edges 'fired up' Vettel for Aussie pole

Lewis Hamilton edged out a "fired up" Sebastian Vettel for Ferrari to claim pole for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne Saturday.

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Are Finns the fastest drivers?

The waiting is almost over for Formula One fans -- a new season is upon us.

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The world's fastest catwalk

It could be the world's speediest catwalk... the drivers' helmets for the 2017 season are as vibrant and colorful as ever.

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The tennis-loving iguana at the Miami Open

It was an usual day at the office for Tommy Haas and Jiri Vesely in their 1st round match at the Miami Open, until an unusual fan dropped by -- an iguana.

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The young star tipped for F1 greatness

Stoffel Vandoorne replaces the outgoing Jenson Button as partner to two-time world champion Fernando Alonso at McLaren for the 2017 Formula One season.

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Labor’s penalty rate fight sets dangerous precedent, says retail peak body.

BMW joins Formula E's electric revolution

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Five unforgettable alpine moments

As the skiing season draws to a close, CNN Alpine Edge reflects on the highlights from the past season.

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World Cup 2018: China and Syria keep dream alive

China kept its World Cup 2018 dream alive with victory over South Korea amid tight security in the city of Changsha.

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Can blue card solve concussion issue?

Yellow and red cards are used to discipline players in rugby and now one international federation is to trial a blue card to safeguard their health.

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Verstappen: 'I feel more relaxed with every year'

He's arguably Formula One's hottest property and now Max Verstappen could have a car that will propel him to the pinnacle of motorsport.

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Tearful Day pulls out of WGC to be with stricken mother

A tearful Jason Day has withdrawn from the World Golf Championships Match Play to be with his stricken mother Dening who has lung cancer.

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Dubai World Cup: Arrogate primed for $10 million race

The overwhelming favorite for the Dubai World Cup title ran "perfectly" in a pre-race drill at the Meydan circuit.

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