Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader and Sports spokesperson
While the Greens welcome moves towards a Tasmanian AFL academy and giving talented local women and girls a chance to play in the national league, we are concerned about the level of secrecy that surrounds the renewed five year sponsorship deal with North Melbourne.
In our view, there is no commercial in confidence argument. As far as we know, there’s no other team vying to play games at Bellerive as part of a sponsorship arrangement. Why the secrecy?
The Premier surely realises that the TT Line is owned by the people of Tasmania. They have a right to know how their business is spending its money yet they are being denied transparency.
Of course we want to see an AFL academy start up in Tasmania.
We want talented women and girls to play in the national league but we want them to represent Tasmania, not being an add on to a Victorian team.
The AFL is letting Tasmania down. It should be investing in a Tasmanian academy, supporting us as we develop a Tasmanian men’s team and our own State-based and branded Tasmanian women’s AFL team.
It’s a national league, but many Tasmanians could be forgiven for thinking the AFL treats us like the poor cousin despite the fact we have a long, proud history of birthing some of the game’s greats.
We think the AFL can do better by Tasmania.