Move against federal funding makes no sense

Comments by Federal Sports Minister Anika Wells over the weekend were interesting to say the least. When questioned about the need for a $750m stadium at Hobart’s Macquarie Point while on SEN Test Cricket on Saturday, Ms Wells said $375m was a lot to ask for.

“We want one, and Tassie wants one (an AFL team). They deserve one, we just don’t think it needs to be conditional on a stadium to get there, no one else had to do that,” Ms Wells said when asked about the push for an AFL team.

“375 million bucks for a stadium is a lot to ask for.”

It’s the first time anyone in the federal government has come out on this point.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously been adamant the federal government would need to see a business case before it backed or commented further on the project. On Friday Senator Jacki Lambie came out against the stadium, seemingly backing the push from state Labor leader Bec White, independent Andrew Wilkie and Greens leader Cassy O’Connor to campaign against the Labor federal government not to help fund the proposed stadium.

The main reasons for the antistadium campaign is they believe Tasmania can’t afford it and there are better things to spend the money on.

Health and housing are the two big ones, but these are issues the state government say they can address while at the same time building a stadium that improves the state’s economy and provides a home for an ALF side.

It will be interesting to see if all four politicians continue their campaign against all federal government sports infrastructure funding in the future.

Health and housing are not just Tasmanian issues and Mr Albanese and Ms Wells are looking at spending billions on the mainland due to a looming Olympics in Brisbane.

If that gets the go ahead in this climate then why should Tassie miss out? Tassie deserves its fair share in this space and the Feds need to come to the party.