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A $30 million windfall generated by the inaugural Newcastle 500 flowed through Newcastle’s local economy last year, according to an independent research centre’s analysis of mobile phone data, banking records and business transactions.
The Hunter Research Foundation Centre (HRFC) found the maiden race strengthened the city’s capacity to host major events and generated an estimated $30.1 million in gross revenue.

The analysis does not include the direct economic benefit or flow-on effects in neighbouring areas including Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie, Maitland and Cessnock.
Councillors will consider the HRFC report, Newcastle 500 Supercars Event Economic and Non-economic Impact Assessment, commissioned by City of Newcastle, on Tuesday night.
Economic benefits in it include:
• $8.94 million in direct expenditure by visitors
• $9.71 million in the flow-on effects
• $4.97 million in direct local expenditure by Supercars
• $6.5 million in flow-on effects of Supercars Australia’s local spending
“This report confirms what many Novocastrians already knew – the inaugural Newcastle 500 was an outright economic success for the city, with $30 million in direct and indirect economic benefits,” Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.
“Almost 83,000 visitors to the City enjoyed themselves in Newcastle East and Cooks Hill over the three days, accounting together with local attendees for the 192,000 figures previously reported.
“What’s new in this report is the banking data that shows Supercars fans spent up big, with the research demonstrating how the money flowed through the city.”
Visitor outlays were calculated based on transaction data from nine Australian banks.
As most visitors paid for their accommodation costs well in advance of the three-day event, this spend was not included in the report analysis. With it included, the direct visitor expenditure for overnight stays would be considerably higher than the $191 identified in the report.
Costs associated with Council’s multi-million dollar East End civil works program were also excluded on the basis that these scheduled works were brought forward several years to enable the Newcastle 500 to be staged in 2017.
The direct economic injection to local contractors and suppliers amounted to $4.97 million, with an additional $6.5 million in flow-on effects, while the study found 22 out of the 31 food and beverage outlets at the event were from the Newcastle local government area.
“While this research means we can now quantify the economic boost for the city, the advertising benefits from the phenomenal media coverage with regard to long-term tourism are harder to quantify, even though the value of coverage is estimated at $1million,” the Lord Mayor added.
“Mainstream media, the report notes, recorded an audience of 8,641,042 people and social media posts reached 630,000 users, so the race also brings with it enormous potential for tourism growth at a time when the city has never looked so good.
“We wanted to host the event to give the city an economic boost, promote it to the world and celebrate Novocastrian pride and I believe this report provides an emphatic endorsement of that decision.”
HRFC included as part of its analysis the results of a business impact survey commissioned by the Newcastle East Residents Group, which drew 243 responses from businesses inside and outside the event precinct. A range of people were interviewed as part of the study including opponents of the race and members of community groups.
The report identified a range of other benefits for the city, including:
• Familiarising local businesses with operating methods for large events
• 15,000 hours of local labour used by the event’s caterers
• 1,932 local workers allocated tickets
• 744 volunteers gained experience and promoted Newcastle
The total cost of the report including purchase of Telstra and major bank data was $156,000.

The scores are in and the results are official – The Hunter is home to five of Australia’s top restaurants, with the recently released national Good Food Guide awarding restaurants in Pokolbin, Mount View and Broke with hat-status.
Pokolbin was a standout, with Muse Restaurant receiving 2 hats, and Muse Kitchen and Restaurant Botanica achieving 1 hat respectively. Mount View’s Bistro Molines and Broke’s Margan Restaurant also received one hat.
The Guide of independent, anonymous reviews is written by a panel of trusted restaurant critics and recognises the best Australian restaurants nationally with ‘hats’, symbolised by a chef’s toque.
To secure a coveted spot in the Guide, restaurants in New South Wales and Victoria must score at least 14 out of 20, while all other states must score a minimum of 15.
To achieve a hat is a pinnacle of a chef’s career and a restaurant’s history, and the term ‘hatted’ has become embedded in the Australian lexicon.
More than 500 restaurants from across the country were reviewed for this year’s Guide, with 264 of these receiving hat status, ranging from one to three.
Only seven restaurants nationally achieved the top accolade of three hats, and they include Attica (VIC), Brae (VIC), Momofuku Seiobo (NSW), Minamishima (VIC), Quay (NSW), Restaurant Orana (SA) and Sixpenny (NSW).
The catalogue of influential Guide editors includes founding editors Claude Forell in Melbourne and Leo Schofield in Sydney – along with Terry Durack, Jill Dupleix and Matthew Evans – who have charted the growth of the restaurant industry in Australia, and helped to shape it.
It is this rich 39-year tradition that the 2019 Good Food Guide editor Myffy Rigby upholds, ensuring the Guide remains Australia’s pre-eminent restaurant bible.
“The second annual national Good Food Guide is a reflection of the thousands of voices that make Australia one of the most diverse and delicious places to eat in the world. The Guide is a celebration of the industry as a whole. Every one of the restaurants featured is a summation of all those moving parts. We recognise the hard work of all those Australian restaurants and everything they do to enrich the scene.”
The score breakdown for reviews and awarding of hats is:
 
14                    Good
1 hat               15 Very good
2 hats             16 Great
2 hats             17 Excellent
3 hats             18 Outstanding
3 hats             19 Incredible
3 hats             20 Perfection
 

A man has been charged following an investigation by Strike Force Trawler detectives into the alleged online procurement of a child for sex.
In July 2018, detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) began engaging online with a man from the Hunter region.
Police will allege in court that the man believed he was speaking with a 14-year-old girl and engaged in highly-sexualised conversations and made arrangements to meet with the child for sex.
Following extensive investigations, a 42-year-old man was arrested by strike force detectives in a shopping centre carpark at Salamander Bay, about 10am yesterday (Thursday 18 October 2018).
Shortly after the arrest, a search warrant was executed at a Tanilba Bay home, where investigators seized two laptops, and an electronic storage device.
The man was taken to Raymond Terrace Police Station and charged with use carriage service to procure person under 16 years for sex.
He was refused bail to appear at Raymond Terrace Local Court later today (Friday 19 October 2018).
Investigations are continuing.
Strike Force Trawler is an ongoing investigation by the CEIU into the sexual abuse and exploitation of children facilitated through the internet and related telecommunications devices.
Regular covert online investigations are conducted by the CEIU; and police in NSW work closely with their law-enforcement colleagues interstate and overseas.
Anyone with information about internet predators should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/
Information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter pages.

A man has been arrested over the disappearance of Leisl Smith, who went missing from the Central Coast in 2012.
Leisl Smith, then aged 23, was last seen about 1pm on Sunday 19 August 2012, leaving her Wallarah home.
Concerned family members alerted police when she failed to return home and she could not be located or contacted.
Extensive searches were conducted for Leisl; however, police have been unable to locate her.
Strike Force Wehl – comprising detectives from Tuggerah Lakes Police District – was subsequently formed to investigate her disappearance.
Leisl’s car, a Honda Accord, was found abandoned at the Tuggerah Railway Station car park on Wednesday 26 September 2012.
Strike Force detectives spoke to a then 42-year-old man before searching two properties in Wallarah and Brookfield on Thursday 4 April 2013, seizing a number of items.
Further properties were searched bordering the Golden Highway at Merriwa, approximately 60km west of Scone, in the upper Hunter Valley.
The investigation has been ongoing since this time.
About 5.10pm (Thursday 18 October 2018), detectives from Tuggerah Lakes Police District
arrested a 48-year-old man on the Gwydir Highway, west of Inverell.
He was taken to Inverell Police Station where he was charged with murder.
He was refused bail and will appear in Inverell Local Court on Friday 19 October 2018.

A member of the Nomads Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (OMCG) has been charged over a shooting at Cooks Hill in July.
About 2.20am on Wednesday 25 July 2018, police were contacted following reports of a public place shooting on Darby Street, Cooks Hill.
Officers from Newcastle City Police District attended and located bullet holes in the exterior of an apartment block. No one was injured.
A crime scene was established and examined by specialist forensic officers.
Detectives from the Criminal Groups Squad’s Strike Force Raptor North commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
On Friday 27 July 2018, a 42-year-old man was charged with multiple firearms offences following the search of a home in Cooks Hill.
Following further investigations, today (Thursday 18 July 2018), an additional charge of discharging firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm was added to his charges at court.
He is next due to appear before Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday 24 October 2018.

Police will address the media after launching an investigation into the reported sexual assault of a teenage girl in the Hunter region yesterday.
About 3.30pm (Wednesday 17 October 2018), a 14-year-old girl alighted a bus on the Pacific Highway near South Street, Windale, and walked along Yertala Close before entering scrubland, where she was approached by an unknown man armed with a knife.
The girl was dragged into the bushes and sexually assaulted. The man then ran from the scene and is believed to have driven away in a silver vehicle.
Police were notified after the girl reported the incident when she arrived home.
Emergency services attended the girl’s home before she was taken by NSW Ambulance paramedics to John Hunter Hospital for examination. She has returned home into the care of her family.
Detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad and Lake Macquarie Police District have established Strike Force Kielpa to investigate the incident.
A crime scene has been established off the Pacific Highway, near South Street, which is currently being examined by specialist forensic officers.
Local police are also conducting a high-visibility policing operation throughout the area to complement investigative strategies.
The man has been described as being aged in his 30s or 40s, with a heavy build, a large belly and legs, a prominent nose and lips. He was last seen wearing a black hooded jumper, long dark-coloured pants, and white sneakers.
Investigators are urging anyone who may have been in the Windale area yesterday afternoon and noticed something suspicious to contact police.
In particular, they are seeking dash-cam vision from motorists who may have been travelling on the Pacific Highway or South Street between 3pm and 4pm to provide copies either to Belmont Police Station or upload it through the Crime Stoppers online reporting page.