Maude Nificent<p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/AFL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AFL</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Tasmania" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Tasmania</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Auspol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Auspol</span></a></p><p>had no idea what was happening in the no-sunshine-state til yesterday ? was it? morning, when i ambled out to make a cuppa and heard some blether on the abc brekky news about a stadium</p><p>how long before two-party fanatics use tasmania as a cautionary tale about the dangers of minority government? as someone who has had little time for afl since gavin wanganeen was dumped from essendon’s premiership line-up 30 years ago, and with the only occasional awareness of afl after that usually involving extreme racism or sexism or just plain echhiness, i am glad Richard Flanagan has explained the tassie stuff in the saturday paper.</p><p>tldr the minority government fell because they were determined to build an AFL stadium in hobart</p><p>——-</p><p><<By 2025, the stadium, projected in 2019 to cost $300 million, would, according to the government’s own planning commission, now cost $1.86 billion over 10 years, will return at best 53 cents in the dollar, and will likely lead to a credit downgrade. It is to be built by a government so incompetent it forgot to build new berthing facilities for two new Bass Strait ferries.>></p><p>what a great writer richard flanagan is…</p><p><<Despite the recent, patronising cant of Eddie McGuire on Footy Classified, claiming that if you give Tasmanians gold bars they’ll throw them back in your face, if you give people dog turds that’s exactly what the AFL can now expect to be smeared with, unless it changes course – and soon.>><br>—-<br>yep. the (admittedly minority) government has fallen because it seems nobody in tasmania wants to go into eternal debt building an aussie rules stadium, and nobody wants to build it smack bang in the heart of hobart. quite honestly, i’d be surprised if anybody wants the bother of travelling to Hobart for a football match. Hobart is a nice place if you have a hire car, have booked decent accommodation in advance, and have a few days to explore the island state. </p><p>but just the hassle of catching a plane from melbourne would be offputting. or if you don’t mind the ferry, a stadium near launceston might make sense. (i don’t know what transport is like from other states) </p><p>but IF the AFL wants a tasmanian team — and it *should* — then the AFL should pay for it.</p><p>this whole saga illustrates well the beauty of the westminster system of government. i was once extremely embarrassed /annoyed by a succession of australian PMs and thought it would be great to directly elect a leader, presidential style. nobody wants an old white man in speedos and a surf-life-saving-club-cap appointing himself minister for women’s affairs, or putting himself in charge of Indigenous affairs. i have admittedly changed my mind… trump era usa has proven there is no system of checks and balances that will protect people from themselves, but at least under the westminster system it’s easier to push deadshits.</p><p><a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/20890/VjcONAc2" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/</span><span class="invisible">20890/VjcONAc2</span></a></p>