Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

At the outset I would like to put on record our support for a Tasmanian AFL and AFLW team. Nearly every Tasmanian would want to see the AFL be a truly national game, and having an AFL team and an AFLW team in Tasmania makes that a reality.

Having said that, I'm also on the record as asking, why is it that Tasmania somehow has to jump through hoops and other hurdles that other states haven't had to jump through? Why are conditions being put on Tasmania receiving an AFL side that other states haven't had to put up with? This is a really interesting discussion around priorities. What I have to say right here and right now is that we have Senator Lambie's network obviously opposed to the stadium, we have the federal Liberal team nearly all opposed to the stadium and I think the Greens might be opposed to the stadium as well. What that all comes down to is that we have a premier back home who isn't listening. He's not listening to his own team. He's not listening to other federal representatives. But also he's not listening to the people on the street, because nearly everyone I've spoken to has indicated that there are other things that the Tasmanian government should be looking at. There are other priorities, and they go to health, hospitals, housing and education.

My own state Labor colleagues have been calling for Premier Rockliff to change his decision to allocate $375 million to a stadium that we shouldn't have to build just so we get our Tasmanian team. They have talked about people coming up to them and asking: 'Why can't we put that money to hospitals? Why can't we put that money to housing? We're in desperate need.' In fact, Premier Rockliff is on record as asking the federal government for injections of cash to help in those other areas—just extraordinary!

So, I hope Premier Rockliff is listening to this debate and, more importantly, I hope the AFL CEO, Gillon McLachlan, is listening to this debate, because, quite frankly, they should be ashamed of themselves that they have put a condition on a Tasmanian team, hoops that no other state has had to jump through. It would be good to be able to have our young players here playing for a Tasmanian side. I just hope that Premier Rockliff listens to not only the people here but, more importantly, the community back home.

I'm also on the record saying that the Australian people elected an Albanese government on a platform of collaboration with and respect for all levels of government. Respect, in this sense, means that we will wait for a business case from the Tasmanian government before reaching a decision. When we talk about business cases, this is about a business case that needs to stack up.