Bill Shorten promises a $25m head start for a Tasmanian AFL team

TASMANIA’S push for an AFL team has gone to a new level with a Bill Shorten-elected Labor Government committing $25 million to a licence.

Bill Shorten show his handball skills at a Parliamentary Friends of Women’s AFL inaugural event at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

TASMANIA’S push for an AFL team has gone to a new level with a Bill Shorten-elected Labor government committing $25 million to a licence.

The Mercury can reveal Mr Shorten will on Saturday make the pledge, which is contingent on the AFL granting a licence for a men’s and women’s team.

It means should the AFL finally grant the state a licence, Tasmania will have $25 million in the kitty to start with.

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Mr Shorten said it sends a strong message to the AFL and called on the Liberal Government to back his pledge.

“It is about time Australian political parties got behind the Australian game, it is Australia’s great athletic convention but it is scrambling in one of its key foundation states,” he said.

“We are sending a message to the AFL money is not going to be the reason it doesn’t happen.

“Ultimately the decision of AFL club licences is rightly the decision for the AFL, but I’d like to build up local football so it is a genuine feeder system for an AFL club, not just a league that is harvested by the mainland clubs.”

The funding will be used to get the team up and running and will be used for better facilities, upgrading grounds and player development.

Mr Shorten has also promised $1 million to Tasmania’s VFL and TAC Cup teams that were announced by AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan in Hobart on Tuesday. Mr Shorten on Thursday promised an additional $5 million to a Save Tassie Football fund for grassroots clubs and leagues.

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He said he had been speaking regularly with Tasmanians who had raised concerns over the state of the game.

The Mercury revealed on Tuesday male participation had slumped 14.7 per cent from 2006 to 2017, including a fall of 22 per cent in the 13-to-18-year-old age group.

“Because I used to be a union rep organising in northern Tassie, I talk to a lot of blokes who play footy in the various comps and they like the idea of a Tasmanian [AFL] team but they also know we’ve got to help build the ecosystem of footy in Tassie,” he said.

“Sometimes you wonder whether the mainlanders are as interested in this question as Tasmania but Tasmania has given a lot to the game, from ‘Doc’ [Darrel] Baldock, Peter Hudson through to ‘Richo’ [Matthew Richardson], Alastair Lynch, Jack Riewoldt.

“You couldn’t imagine an Australian rules national competition without a contribution from Tasmania could you?”