Page 4901 - Week 11 - Thursday, 21 October 2010
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Sydney and the potential economic and employment opportunities flowing from that are perhaps difficult to measure, but they are some of the interesting possibilities that may emerge from that strong corporate support that the team has already generated.
We are discussing all of this, of course, before the team has even launched, let alone got itself a name. The level of excitement attached to it is palpable and I think quite positive for a team that has not even got off the ground yet. Having the team come here regularly will enable Canberrans to regularly see high quality AFL matches in the city. Of course, away teams will come as well, and fans of those teams will no doubt flock to the games, too. It will see Canberra become a regional hub, because, despite New South Wales being historically a rugby league state, there is right through the region a strong affiliation and strong attachment to the AFL competition. I think we would see people coming from around the region—the Riverina, Goulburn, Orange and the south coast—for these matches. Placing Canberra as a regional hub for this sporting team I think would work very well.
Having top level AFL matches in Canberra will improve the usage of our major sports facilities. The more they are used, the more the overall costs are offset. Obviously, if a facility is are used only once or twice a year, the costs are not dissipated as much. And I do want to touch on the costs, as I think it is something we need to be mindful of.
It has been interesting to watch the negotiations the minister has had with the AFL in the last couple of years around what price games will be and how willing the ACT has been to pay for those games. I want to give the minister some credit here, because he has not taken an approach of getting AFL to Canberra at any price. This really only comes from reading the newspapers—and we all know how much one should be careful in judging one’s information from the newspapers—but my sense is that the minister has been prudent in simply not signing up to AFL at any price. That is something we need to continue to be mindful of as we go through the negotiations with the AFL.
The AFL are clearly a commercial operation at some level as well. We see that in some of the activities they undertake and the way they conduct themselves. I think we have to negotiate hard to make sure that we enter this partnership in a way that is viable for the ACT on an ongoing basis, because we are talking about a 10-year partnership, and that is something that we will need to take into account.
We must also consider the costs that will go with providing the necessary stadium facilities, whether that is some sort of upgrade at Manuka Oval or a longer term move to Canberra Stadium if we see a reconfiguration of that stadium. We regularly debate in this place the economic pressures upon the ACT and the pressures upon the ACT budget. The potential investments and the numbers we have seen put around for stadia upgrades are very substantial. I recall when the minister released various options last year that one of the options of the four that was set out for the possible redevelopment and construction of stadia had a price tag on it of $300 million. Obviously there was federal money presumed in that sort of package, but it gives us a sense of the potential scale of expenditure that is required. If we were to see those sorts of numbers being put around to improve our stadia facilities in the ACT, I imagine we would have a very animated debate in this chamber.
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