I’d say the leg they will stand on is that Tasmania is not hosting an Olympics.
I’m happy for Brisbane, any federal money that goes somewhere other than Sydney for a change is a good thing.
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Given this Olympics bid was supposed to be doing it cheaper in a city with a lot of existing infrastructure, and getting away from the money pits of recent events, it’s a bit counter to the bid to need big dollar funding.
As much as people cringe a bit about it, big sporting events is a key cultural aspect of Australia - but I think that applies just as strongly between an Olympics and the proposals in Tasmania.
They are building the new Cross River Rail with a station at the Gabba - the whole concept was built around creating that precinct. The QEII stadium is 4km or so from a train station that is not exactly built to be an interchange point for major events.
Part of the actual need for big investment in Brisbane is that they’ve massively outgrown their transport capacity, and that a lot of their event venues were built in an era of car first thinking, and hoping some buses deal with the rest.
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Infrastructure Spending should be made where there is a positive net community benefit from the infrastructure being delivered, regardless of whether that’s in Brisbane, Sydney, Darwin, or Outer Betoota. Consideration should also be given to how the infrastructure is going to be managed in the future, sustainability (both financial and environmental) are now critical components in determining whether its a lifecycle that can be sustained.
We’ve been conditioned to accept that infrastructure spending is an ideologically-driven dick-waving contest between multiple levels of government who all deep down don’t believe they should be the ones handing the money out but are more than happy to dictate how it should be spent. It’s further not helped by politicians who a driven by an almost innate desire to have their photo taken with a large pair of scissors or immortalized on some kind of commemorative plaque that was unveiled at an opening.
Projects that stand up to scrutiny should be considered, regardless of what they deliver or where - funding things because they’re the flavour of the month or because a particular level of government has a hard-on for it is poor policy and often results in induced demand.
Because we allow politicisation of infrastructure delivery, we end up with poor results (NBN anyone?) and poor uses of the money that ends up in many “getting square” projects that try to politically even the ledger. If the projects in Brisbane stand up, then they should be funded (as should projects across the country that do), if they don’t then they either shouldn’t get additional funding or the level of Government who is proposing it should be finding an alternate arrangement.
Funding a stadium in Tasmania, just because one might get funded in Brisbane has a real potential to be a waste of money and the practice really needs to stop.
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It would probably have cost as much to bring the surrounds up to code (the track itself seems OK) as they wouldn’t have had many if any upgrades since the Broncos left in 2003.
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Why have that dumb looking running track around it if it’s an AFL specific oval?
And what does misspelt showering mean?
Yeah but that’s not a ground that will ever host actual games.
And Sydney doesn’t need a three lane athletics track, they have the Olympic Park close by.
That is not a misspelling. It is the actual oval which was part of Sydney Showground which hosted Royal Easter Show from 1882 to 1997.
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So it should be “Old Showground Stadium”?
No its going to be called Showring Oval - stop being so dense
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No need to be insulting. Showring means what?
Surely you could have Googled this yourself
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/showring
Well I’m sorry I didn’t search for a word that my computer doesn’t recognise as being spelt correctly.
Dont blame the computer. Problem exists between keyboard and chair. 
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They played one last AFLW season…
Yeah but it wasn’t designed to host games with large crowds, just some VFL games. Obviously has changed since then. This Sydney ground is a purpose-built AFLW home, correct?
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Correct.
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