Sports Funding Priorities
[6.24 p.m.]
Ms BURNET (Clark) - Honourable Speaker, I wish to put on record my concerns about the Tasmanian government Sports funding priorities, the allocation in the recent state Budget, and a growing concerning disconnect between elite and grassroots community infrastructure priorities. During the Estimates hearing, minister Duigan was questioned on a Budget that was heavily weighted towards multi-million dollar elite‑stream focused projects, while grassroots clubs, junior associations and vital public infrastructure are left on life support.
As for weighting between AFL versus other sports infrastructure spending:
AFL represents 51.7 per cent of the total infrastructure funding included in output 5.6 Sport and Recreation in the capital investment program from the Sports portfolio in the 2026‑27 Budget and across the forward Estimates.
There is a troubling disparity in how this government allocates its sporting investments. Football Tasmania Chief Executive Tony Pignata put it plainly when he revealed that this government invests roughly $540 into every Tasmanian who plays AFL football; $138 into every basketballer; yet for soccer, the investment plummets to just $19. Soccer, a grassroots sport, accessible to children, migrants, women and, indeed, every Tasmanian, receives just 3.5 per cent of the funding that AFL does. In fact, AFL receives over half of state infrastructure funding, according to answers tabled by the Minister for Sport this week.
When pushed to provide a transparent regional breakdown of spending across different sporting codes over the forward Estimates from 2026‑27 to 2029‑30, as well as a specific breakdown between men's and women's sports, the minister placed the details on notice. Minister Duigan defended the disparity by calling these large projects 'point‑in‑time investments' and claiming heavy investment in community sporting infrastructure; but building broad, generalised community sports centres does nothing to fix the immediate structural shortfalls facing individual grassroots clubs that are struggling to justify or maintain secure playing grounds.
Local football associations like the Central Region Junior Football Association, which manages over 4000 young players alone, are telling us loud and clear that they are operating past breaking point. Grassroots competitions are being forced to survive on a mismatched patchwork of school and council ovals, often with degraded, sometimes unsafe, playing surfaces; failing, outdated floodlights; lack of changeroom or toilet facilities; and delayed kick‑off times due to a severe shortage of functional facilities. I know this occurs in netball as well. We should be immediately rolling out direct upgrade grants to the local community pitches where thousands of young Tasmanians actually play every single weekend.
Perhaps the most alarming reflection of the government's misplaced priorities is found in our public aquatic spaces. Peak water safety bodies are currently warning of a dangerous nationwide trend: nearly half of all year 6 students can no longer fulfil basic water survival requirements such as swimming 50 metres or treading water for two minutes. Swimming is not just a weekend recreation; it is a critical, life‑saving survival skill. Yet given the clear public safety risk, this government steams on to pour a billion dollars into stadium infrastructure, elite sports teams and their facilities.
Why is there no urgent or, indeed, matching boost in funding for school swimming programs and subsidised private lessons to ensure every Tasmanian child learns how to survive in the water? As someone completely invested in ensuring a flourishing community sports scene, what I see is our local community sport networks stretch themselves to the absolute limit. A healthy sport culture is built from the ground up, not from the corporate boxes down. I urge the minister and this government to re-evaluate these priorities and start investing in the safety, accessibility and grassroots infrastructure that Tasmanian kids rely on.