Taxpayer money funding $4m multiplex in country town

You wouldn’t think building a brand new movie theatre would divide a community – who doesn’t love to see a movie?

But no cinema chain is paying for it, and that’s the problem.

You’re paying for it.  Every taxpayer is.

And the people getting this multiplex cinema are asking: since when did the federal government start building movie cinemas with taxpayer money?

And aside from taxpayer money, the local council is also contributing a couple of million dollars as well, prompting those very same people getting the cinema to ask a second question: since when did local council start building movie theatres – shouldn’t they just empty the garbage bins, fix the roads and mow the parks?

Like many towns around Australia, Kempsey on the mid-north coast of New South Wales has been by-passed by a big new highway. 

It's great for motorists but not so good for a town with a declining population and now, fewer tourists dropping in.

So the local council decided a big new multiplex theatre would re-invigorate the town and perhaps entice a few more tourists to drop by.

But paying for it has become a problem.  The State Government said no way and that it was not viable, that Kempsey just didn't have the population for a multi-theatre complex. 

But the federal coffers are much deeper and they saw merit, and pitched in $2 million.  Little old Kempsey Council threw in another $2 million. 

And there’s a sting to this story. Because guess what? Kempsey already has a cinema, but it closed down some time back because not enough people came to the theatre.

So why would they need four more?

Either way, you're paying for it.