Once upon a time, the very idea of bringing the Logie Awards to Albury might have seemed fanciful and, dare we say it, the kind of thing you’d only see on television.
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Indeed, there were plenty of people on Tuesday morning asking, “why on earth would they move the Logies from Melbourne or Sydney?”
A better question might be, “why on earth wouldn’t they?”
To be blunt, Australian television’s night of nights has struggled for relevance in recent years.
In the capital cities, the Logies has become just another night on the calendar. In regional centres like Albury, Dubbo and Tamworth, it would undoubtedly be the star attraction.
And the numbers back it up.
“This is no ambit claim – we’ve done our homework and taking the Logies to the bush represents more than double the value of hosting them in Sydney … these areas have some of the best food, wine, unique tourist attractions and country hospitality that you couldn’t find anywhere else in the world,” Tourism Minister Adam Marshall says.
It’s refreshing to hear someone in Macquarie St acknowledge there’s more to NSW than Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong.
Albury has shown it can stage top-class events with almost 10,000 people flocking to Lavington Oval on a Tuesday night to watch a practice cricket match between the Sydney Thunder and Sydney Sixers in December.
That’s a crowd the AFL premiership favourites – Greater Western Sydney – often struggle to pull at a home and away game in the NSW capital.
The Giants have a commercial arrangement to play matches in Canberra but could surely benefit from spreading their wings into more regional centres during the season.
After all, Albury is in their academy zone and the Western Bulldogs have shown it can be done by playing for premiership points in Ballarat.
Albury has never been better connected to the rest of Australia with direct flights available to Melbourne, Sydney and now Brisbane on a daily basis.
Given our central location to Melbourne and Sydney, we’re perfectly positioned to host the Logies and breathe new life into an event that’s been lagging.
And with a bit of 2020 vision, as Alf Stewart might say, we can show ‘em what flamin’ galahs they are for not doing it sooner.