DSRD to continue Olympic run - New South WalesDepartment of State and Regional Development - Brief Article

Business Asia, August, 2001 by Randolph Ramsay

A YEAR ON from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and Loftus Harris is confident New South Wales and Australia have made the most out of the opportunity.

Harris, the director general of the NSW Department of State and Regional Development (DSRD), says billions of dollars have already flowed back into the State and Australia as a result of the Games.

"In the past year, we've seen export and licensing business growing as a result of the games exceeding $600 million," he said. "Investment in NSW has jumped in excess of $500 million. There are currently projects under negotiation for Australian engineering expertise around the world worth well over $1 billion.

"The focus on Sydney as a destination for international business conferences and events has also increased. Since the Olympics last year, Sydney has secured 33 more conferences worth in excess of $140 million. We also have figures showing that over $720 million worth of conferences have been booked in Sydney up to 2007."

Harris says the money flow will most definitely not stop there. Although Harris is loath to put a final figure on how much the Games will make Australia in the long run, he does say that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg.

"With a lot of the major international companies, some of their decisions to invest or set up bases in a country takes years to come to fruition," he said.

"What you have to do is be able to put forward your case. Now we made contact with over 10,000 world executives during the Games last year. What that's done is open doors for us that would never have opened before. It's opened doors in every city of the world -- we've been able to get into the offices of the world's top executives and talk to them about the value and benefits of Sydney and NSW."

Some of these top executives have already been recruited as ambassadors for the State. During the Games last year, NSW Premier Bob Carr met with hundreds of top level executives. Since then, the Premier and the Department have chased up with their initial contacts, and have selected a few to become NSW Business Ambassadors.

"These are people like Douglas Daft of Coke, and some of the top executives at McDonalds and UPS," Harris said.

"20 have been officially appointed as ambassadors, who we ask to speak well of Sydney and NSW in their dealings with other key executives."

Despite the positives, the DSRD has been under fire lately, with a recently released NSW parliamentary report criticising the department for wasting money and not being accountable enough with its spending.

In a report released in late June, the Public Accounts Committee found that NSW avoided much of the wastage and excesses of other governments in Australia and overseas and commended the NSW Treasury and DSRD. It was critical, however, of how the Department measured its own success.

Public Accounts Committee Chairman, Joseph Tripodi MP, said "to a large extent, DSRD has been taking credit for investment that was going to happen anyway". Tripodi also criticised secrecy surrounding Departmental grants to businesses.

A survey of NSW exporters conducted by Business Asia/Overseas Trading, however, found most were happy with the support given and the overall performance of the DSRD.

The survey, sent to small and large exporters throughout the State, asked whether the DSRD was effective in several key criteria.

The survey respondents rated the DSRD quite highly on all counts. Close to 80 per cent of respondents thought that on the subject of advice and information, the DSRD was excellent or good. With grants and subsidies, 80 per cent of respondents rated the DSRD's help as excellent or good, while 70 per cent found the DSRD's leadership in the export sector either excellent or good.

Distractions aside, Harris continues with the job at hand -- spruiking NSW and Sydney to the world.

The DSRD has already set it sights on continuing the State's Olympic high, with several roadshows and seminars set to take place highlighting the opportunities in Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

And Harris says the Department's not about to sit on its laurels and bask in the success of our own Games. The follow-up visits, meetings and correspondence will, and must, continue, he says.