PREMIER Daniel Andrews is refusing to tell Victorian taxpayers how much they will fork out to keep the Grand Prix in Melbourne until 2023.

The taxpayer contribution to the 2014 event, which was hailed as a success, was about $60 million.

The 2015 result will be tabled in State Parliament within weeks.

If a similar loss to 2014 was incurred for each year until 2023, about half a billion dollars would have been spent.

Mr Andrews said that the race was “very good value for money” because the overall economic benefit to the state was immense.

He also said it was about “keeping people in work” and maintaining Victoria’s position as the major events capital.

“NSW desperately wanted it, there are other states in Australia who are interested, other countries in our region would do almost anything to have this race in their city,” he said.

“The Premier of NSW was going to pinch this race from Melbourne, well, sadly for him we’ve got this race locked up until 2023 at least.”

Hotels and restaurants are among the big winners when Grand Prix season rolls along in March, and Mr Andrews said it was an important part of the state’s major events calendar.

The premier said revealing the costs of securing the rights to the race would give others an advantage.

“We will not be giving to our competitors the number they have to beat,” he said.

“Victorians have a right to expect that their government and its partners will do everything we possible can to make sure we continue to have a strong major events calendar.”

media_camera Melbourne will remain the Australian host of the Australian F1 Grand Prix.

Last night Premier Daniel Andrews posted a cheeky video on Facebook to deliver the bad news to his rival, New South Wales Premier Mike Baird, along with the hashtag #SorryNotSorry.

Mr Baird had previously been spruiking his plan to steal the event from Victoria.

“I’m sorry, Mike, but the Australian Formula One Grand Prix is here to stay — exactly where it belongs, in the great city of Melbourne,” Mr Andrews said in the video posted at 8.30pm.

He went on to personally invite Mr Baird down to Victoria and said he would even “shout” the ticket.

“The good news is you and tens and thousands of others from New South Wales and right across Australia, indeed right across the world are more than welcome to come to Melbourne to be part of the great race. In fact, I’ll even shout you a ticket.”

Mr Baird was quiet on the subject on social media, as he perhaps mulled over a humble pie reply.

It’s the latest win for Victoria in the long-running state versus state rivalry, which hit full throttle last month when Mr Baird took to Twitter to troll his Victorian counterpart as he unveiled a new state logo.

Mr Baird added an asterisk to Victoria’s “Best of Everything” slogan, adding a disclaimer that the “offer excludes harbour, infrastructure and sunshine”.

Mr Andrews hit back with a jibe at Sydney’s second-rate coffee:

“You’re just grumpy because you haven’t had a decent coffee since you were last in Melbourne! But thanks for the free coverage,” he replied.

He captioned his Grand Prix video announcement with the hashtag #BestOfEverything.

Mr Baird had in March made an election promise to put his state in the race to be named the new home of the F1 Grand Prix.

The proposed track was a 5km circuit that crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Last year, the NSW government successfully snared more than 130 sporting, cultural and lifestyle events, injecting more than $500 million into the state.

It prompted Mr Andrews to order his major events teams to reconsider how his state attracts events.

The annual March motor race has attracted an attendance of more than 300,000 over four days, with Tourism Victoria estimating the event injects up to $39 million into the economy.

andrea.hamblin@news.com.au

@AndieHamblin