ALARMED by public criticism, the Catholic Church has distanced itself from the size of the $41 million compensation package paid to the racing industry to stage the World Youth Day Papal Mass at Randwick Racecourse. A briefing paper to church leaders, issued a day after state and federal governments agreed to share the costs of a planned 10-week shutdown of the track, provides "talking points" to help quell criticism that taxpayers' money is being unnecessarily spent on next year's religious event.
It includes pointers on the terms of settlement, why the church preferred Randwick over Sydney Olympic Park and why Randwick Racecourse needed to be vacated for 10 weeks.
Priests of the Sydney archdiocese have been told the church was unaware of the terms of the compensation package until they were announced to the media and a "significant portion" were unrelated to World Youth Day and provided long-term benefits to the racing industry.
The event will run for six days from July 15-20, drawing up to 500,000 people to the closing vigil Mass at Royal Randwick.
Of the $41 million package, $7 million had been allocated for capital works that the Australian Jockey Club had been planning before the event and another $3 million was for unspecified costs incurred by the club, and a 50-year extension to its lease, the church said. A further $10 million was only as insurance in case the racing surface needed repair.
To questions of whether it could hold the event elsewhere, the church said it never intended to disrupt the race industry and it had altered its plans three times to accommodate the industry's legitimate concerns.
The briefing paper has surfaced amid controversy over Parliament's approval last week of police search and eviction powers, the right to remove unauthorised advertising and restrict air space over venues.
And it was revealed yesterday the Australian Jockey Club will stage an electronic music festival in May for 30,000 concertgoers in open-air amphitheatres at the racecourse. Despite the prospect of a week of disruptions, the racing industry has not raised the same concerns as it did for World Youth Day - that horses would be startled by track works and have to be moved.
The Catholic Church spokesman said it was unaware of the concert until yesterday but the AJC said the two events could not be compared. "It takes seven days or less to bump equipment in and out and the concert is not intrusive on business," a spokesman said. "The concert starts at midday and ends at 10pm. There are no sleepovers and it's 30,000 people, not 300,000."
The church refuses to outline how much of its own money it will be spending to stage the event beyond saying it is a "very considerable contribution". After including the Randwick settlement, state and federal governments will be contributing at least $95 million towards the jamboree.
A church spokeswoman said the briefing paper was all about helping the church's internal communications and clarifying issues that are raised in the media.
Operational plans for the event were given final approval by the Vatican this week.
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