Jeremy Rockliff must provide Tasmanians with some details on the ownership structure of a future AFL team.
Last month, letters obtained through RTI by the ABC showed that Mr Rockliff promised an additional $54 million to the AFL after pressure from Gillon McLachlan.
Even though Mr Rockliff wrote to Mr McLachlan to say “the latest AFL requirements compromise current community expectations, sound economic governance and ultimately the sustainability of the club.” (29 August, p56), the AFL’s CEO didn’t come close to flinching.
In an earlier letter to Mr McLachlan, Mr Rockliff touched on the ownership of the future Tasmanian club (23 July, p49):
“It is also a condition precedent that the club must be supported by Tasmanians to be successful and to be so it must not just be seen as Tasmania’s team, but to operate as a truly Tasmanian team with the governance reflecting the enormous investment our Government will provide the AFL,” he wrote.
Throughout this entire stadium mess, Jeremy Rockliff has shown he will stop at no lengths in his efforts to cave in to the AFL’s demands.
The Premier should let Tasmanians know what he has managed to secure when it comes to the ownership and governance of the team.
The Tasmanian team should be owned by Tasmanian members and the board should be accountable to its members like most of the AFL clubs but given Jeremy Rockliff’s track record of negotiating with the AFL, we’re not confident that will be the case.
Josh Willie MLC
Shadow Minister for Sport