❓ The Minister for Sport and Recreation answers a question regarding the agreement reached with the AFL and WA Football Commission for the new Perth Stadium, highlighting benefits for football and taxpayers, and contrasting it with the previous government's efforts.
AnsweredQoN 576Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PERTH
STADIUM — FOOTBALL
576. Ms C.M. ROWE to the
Minister for Sport and Recreation:
I refer to the
agreement that this government was able to reach with the AFL and the WA
Football Commission regarding the use of the new stadium, which is something
that the previous Liberal–National government failed to do. Can the
minister advise the house what this means for football in this state, for the
West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers, and for taxpayers?
STADIUM — FOOTBALL
576. Ms C.M. ROWE to the
Minister for Sport and Recreation:
I refer to the
agreement that this government was able to reach with the AFL and the WA
Football Commission regarding the use of the new stadium, which is something
that the previous Liberal–National government failed to do. Can the
minister advise the house what this means for football in this state, for the
West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers, and for taxpayers?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member
for the question. After extraordinarily long negotiations, which started in
2014—we have now been in the job for about eight months—we
concluded the deal that the opposition could not. It was great to be out at the
stadium the other day with the Premier and Mr Goyder from the AFL and to see
them sign off and move on to enhance football in Western Australia. It was
great that we were finally able to come together. That is something that, in my
belief, should have been done at the heads of agreement—before the
stadium was built and not after.
Several members
interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members! I want to hear this.
Mr M.P. MURRAY : It is a stadium that, I will admit, is in
sensational condition and is about 97 per cent complete. We had to have a user
agreement; we have done that.
We will see the
Eagles play the first game at the stadium. After a lot of backroom talk and a lot
of arm wrestling about which team would get the first game, I think that the
AFL have now come up with a reasonable situation in which the Dockers will get
an extra game as well. Also, there will be 50 000 seats available for the
Dockers' and Eagles' memberships. I remind the house that the
state government has nothing to do with the pricing of those seats. That is
entirely up to the Eagles or the Dockers themselves. Above that, 1 000 tickets
have been put aside for special packages for people who will be able to come
from the east coast or from anywhere, in fact—not only the east coast.
We expect most of them would come under these package agreements for tourism. I
would like to thank the Minister for Tourism for his help in that area. He has
worked very closely to make sure that that happened. The tourism dollars into
WA will certainly be welcome. We have heard about empty hotels and hope to be
able to get those people across here.
As a point of
interest, talking about tourism dollars for sport, I was on a plane going to
the east coast and on that plane were 50 people going to Moonee Valley just to
watch Winx race. I was surprised that the member for South Perth was not there!
In saying that, it shows the tourism dollars that are in sport.
There will also be 6 000 seats available for non-AFL
members so that the people who might only want to go once a year will have a chance
to buy a seat. I think it is quite reasonable for them to be able to do that.
Additional seats will be available for the multi-seat scenario, which is like a
stadium membership but not exactly. People will be able to pay extra and be
able to have multi-seats in their agreement with the stadium. Again, that is
another fundraiser.
The second deal that
we have done, other than the ticketing, was working with the WA Football
Commission. The stadium will provide an income of $10.3 million per annum to
the WA Football Commission to ensure that grassroots users get their share out
of that stadium. Something that I am passionate about is making sure that in
WA, AFL football at the grassroots, not always at the top, gets its share of
the pie. That will be part of a 10-year deal with four further extension
options, which will prevent the government from having to top it up in the
future. Those options will start to be discussed at the seven-year mark—I
am sure that we will still be in government after 20 years with that mob over
there—so that we can have it running smoothly right throughout the
whole time of the stadium's life. After months of negotiations, we have
found that football is funding football. That is something that is tremendous.
I see it as a fair deal for all Western Australians. That is despite the former
government —
Several members
interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr M.P. MURRAY : I will wait for ''Tow Ball'' to
finish.
The SPEAKER : I am sure that the minister is getting to the end of
his answer. Members, I want to hear the end.
Mr M.P. MURRAY : That is despite the former government not asking
for one cent from the AFL or for one cent from the federal government. It
dudded sport in WA!
Mr C.J. Barnett : You tried to get money out of the casino, which
would've been corrupt.
Withdrawal of Remark
The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe, will you withdraw that remark
about being corrupt, please?
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
Mr Speaker, I said that to have sought money for the casino, in my view, would
have been corrupt. I withdraw, but that is what I said. I did not accuse any
member.
The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe, you have been here long enough
to know that it is not a debate. You just withdraw what you said.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : I have done that. I withdraw it.
for the question. After extraordinarily long negotiations, which started in
2014—we have now been in the job for about eight months—we
concluded the deal that the opposition could not. It was great to be out at the
stadium the other day with the Premier and Mr Goyder from the AFL and to see
them sign off and move on to enhance football in Western Australia. It was
great that we were finally able to come together. That is something that, in my
belief, should have been done at the heads of agreement—before the
stadium was built and not after.
Several members
interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members! I want to hear this.
Mr M.P. MURRAY : It is a stadium that, I will admit, is in
sensational condition and is about 97 per cent complete. We had to have a user
agreement; we have done that.
We will see the
Eagles play the first game at the stadium. After a lot of backroom talk and a lot
of arm wrestling about which team would get the first game, I think that the
AFL have now come up with a reasonable situation in which the Dockers will get
an extra game as well. Also, there will be 50 000 seats available for the
Dockers' and Eagles' memberships. I remind the house that the
state government has nothing to do with the pricing of those seats. That is
entirely up to the Eagles or the Dockers themselves. Above that, 1 000 tickets
have been put aside for special packages for people who will be able to come
from the east coast or from anywhere, in fact—not only the east coast.
We expect most of them would come under these package agreements for tourism. I
would like to thank the Minister for Tourism for his help in that area. He has
worked very closely to make sure that that happened. The tourism dollars into
WA will certainly be welcome. We have heard about empty hotels and hope to be
able to get those people across here.
As a point of
interest, talking about tourism dollars for sport, I was on a plane going to
the east coast and on that plane were 50 people going to Moonee Valley just to
watch Winx race. I was surprised that the member for South Perth was not there!
In saying that, it shows the tourism dollars that are in sport.
There will also be 6 000 seats available for non-AFL
members so that the people who might only want to go once a year will have a chance
to buy a seat. I think it is quite reasonable for them to be able to do that.
Additional seats will be available for the multi-seat scenario, which is like a
stadium membership but not exactly. People will be able to pay extra and be
able to have multi-seats in their agreement with the stadium. Again, that is
another fundraiser.
The second deal that
we have done, other than the ticketing, was working with the WA Football
Commission. The stadium will provide an income of $10.3 million per annum to
the WA Football Commission to ensure that grassroots users get their share out
of that stadium. Something that I am passionate about is making sure that in
WA, AFL football at the grassroots, not always at the top, gets its share of
the pie. That will be part of a 10-year deal with four further extension
options, which will prevent the government from having to top it up in the
future. Those options will start to be discussed at the seven-year mark—I
am sure that we will still be in government after 20 years with that mob over
there—so that we can have it running smoothly right throughout the
whole time of the stadium's life. After months of negotiations, we have
found that football is funding football. That is something that is tremendous.
I see it as a fair deal for all Western Australians. That is despite the former
government —
Several members
interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr M.P. MURRAY : I will wait for ''Tow Ball'' to
finish.
The SPEAKER : I am sure that the minister is getting to the end of
his answer. Members, I want to hear the end.
Mr M.P. MURRAY : That is despite the former government not asking
for one cent from the AFL or for one cent from the federal government. It
dudded sport in WA!
Mr C.J. Barnett : You tried to get money out of the casino, which
would've been corrupt.
Withdrawal of Remark
The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe, will you withdraw that remark
about being corrupt, please?
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
Mr Speaker, I said that to have sought money for the casino, in my view, would
have been corrupt. I withdraw, but that is what I said. I did not accuse any
member.
The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe, you have been here long enough
to know that it is not a debate. You just withdraw what you said.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : I have done that. I withdraw it.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.