Queensland election: AFL grand final one week, let’s vote the next
The Palaszczuk government pushed the AFL to hold the grand final in Brisbane on the Saturday before the state poll.
The Palaszczuk government pushed the AFL to hold the grand final in Brisbane on the Saturday before it faces voters at the October 31 state election.
In a commercial-in-confidence deal, believed to involve a cash incentive for the AFL, the state Labor government committed to also spending millions of dollars on promoting the final, including “dressing” Brisbane and the Gold Coast with football banners, lights and flags.
The October 24 AFL premiership game at the Gabba not only will break with tradition in being held outside Melbourne, but will also be the first night grand final in the league’s 123-year history.
It has been seen by Labor insiders as a major electoral coup for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, with the excitement around the historic event expected to give the party a boost in the last week of the campaign.
“Queensland can provide contingencies for the AFL for hosting the grand final on both the 17th and the 24th of October, with Queensland’s preference being the 24th of October,’’ according to the government’s written submission last month to the AFL, obtained by The Australian.
It gave no written reason for its preferred date.
While Brisbane and the Gold Coast “will become footy central” — with a two-week festival, costing close to $1m just to set up — internal government planning documents said it also wanted departments to ensure the “excitement and pride of Queensland hosting the grand final extends beyond southeast Queensland and right across our expansive state’’.
To that end, the government is planning a pre-finals’ tour of the premiership trophy through regional Queensland.
The $75,000 whistlestop tour, according to internal government planning documents, will be “conducted by key Queensland government and AFL representatives” and stop in Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and the Gold Coast — where many of the Labor-held marginal seat battles in the election will be fought.
And $420,000 has been budgeted to cover the cost of setting-up “regional live sites” in the same centres with outdoor screen TVs to watch the game live. The bill also covers a two-week “Final of a Lifetime Festival’’ — which will cost $935,000 plus “gifts in kind” — and the so-called “dressing” of Brisbane with at least 75 street banners, 24 bridge flags, outdoor TV screens and the lighting-up of buildings throughout the CBD.
The Palaszczuk government has refused to detail the estimated costs of hosting the final and the accompanying events, like the Brownlow Medal ceremony.
A government spokesman said the “government did not choose the date” of the grand final.
Already, planning for the AFL final has caused some concerns over interstate companies being flown in and now in two-week quarantine to deliver event services ahead of the game. In its pitch, the Queensland government promised a “turnkey solution”, with the Gabba stadium and an opportunity to grow the game in the rugby league-dominated state. It reminded the AFL that the state had helped save the season, in hosting Victorian teams during the pandemic.
“The Queensland government has provided financial support and has actively engaged with the AFL on its COVID-19 response to ensure the season’s viability,” it said.
“We believe in collaboration with the AFL that this unique opportunity could grow game development.”