Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Matt Hepworth spoke with AFLNT Board Chairman Sean Bowden

Transcript

Matt Hepworth spoke with AFLNT Board Chairman Sean Bowden · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that AFLNT has revealed plans to build a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: three hundred million dollars stadium right in the heart of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Down City. To talk more about it is the board
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: chairman for afl and T Sean Bowden. Sean, good morning,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Matt Shawn. To tell you what I nearly
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: spat out mcffee on Saturday morning when I saw this
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: on the front page of the paper. It's ambitious. Tell
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: us more about the plan.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Well, the plan's actually got two arms to it, so
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: it's more ambitious than you would have even read in
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: that headline, Matte. We're also planning and proposing a dollar
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: for dollar spend on regional and remote infrastructure. We think
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: the two things go perfectly together that are given these proposals.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: You know something, for all territorians, we have to make
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: sure that whatever's done, it has to be done right
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: through the length and breadth of the territory. So yeah,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: we've got this proposal and we think it's timely and
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: we think that it's something that should be grabbed at
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: both hands with both hands by the territory. But we're
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: also spreading it out into the regions, the remote areas.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Sean, what would this stadium look like as I understand it,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: it would be modeled on something similar to the NRL
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Stadium in Townsville.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it wouldn't matter. But we're also proposed that it
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: has a roof or closable roof. I mean, we need
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: to be able to use this stadium all year round.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: And I mean if you think about the what we're
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: really we're trying to do in the full picture here,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: it's to bring real activity and annual activity to the
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Northern Territory. You just have to excuse me, I'm at
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: the airport matters. You might be aware and there's a
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: bit of noise in the background, but no person. We
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: are proposing that it has has a lead on it
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: and that it's available year round for concerts, for other
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: entertainment and also you know of course for the NRL Games,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Soccer Test, treky All International creg in the range of
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: activities that might come with the stadium like that.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Sean, for those who haven't seen the plans, where would
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: it be built.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: There's a block of land that we think is perfect
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: for it that is bounded by Garrimela Boulevard and mcmin
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Street with the Tiger brewn and drive down the bottom.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: So it's a sort of trade deal a block of
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: land just to the north of the city, and you know,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: we think it's perfect. It's a walk down in the
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: evening for an event for people from the city. It's
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: also a comfortable drive up for people at Palmerston and
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: down in the rural areas, in the regional areas. And
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: we think it'll sort of also lock in the waterfront
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: and the proposed plans for Francis Bay into the future.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: So that I meant this is going to be an
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: iconic thing. If we can drive it and deliver it,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: this will be something that really the Northern Territory needs
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: and deserves. Every other capital city has infrastructure like this,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: and you know, we really needed to sort of set
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: ourselves and test ourselves. If we want to be capital city,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: we have to aim at projects like this.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Have you approached the landholder of that site and sought
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: feedback from them and other stakeholders?
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: No, This stakeholder processes will start early next year. And
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: at the moment, it's a concept and it's a proposal
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: and this work needs to be done. But there has
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: been discussion in the past with infrastructure of the Northern
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Territory and with the former Chief Architect of the Northern Territory,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: and this site was identified as one. Another one was
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Gardens was identified as a possible site with Gardens, it's
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: just a little bit further out of town and there's
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: some real challenges with the scope of that site and
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: the cemeteries and the botanical gardens and of course the
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: course of residential area there. And some of your listeners
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: will be aware of the difficulty you had putting up
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: start of the art lights at Gardens. You know, we
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: don't want to run into that problem again.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that the price tag on these as reports
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: it in the NT News on Saturday, three hundred million dollars.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: It's a lot of money. Who's going to pay for it?
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Well, thinking about the stimulus it will bring. Think about
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: what it'll bring to the Northern Territory, particularly if we
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: can back to back it with this remote and regional
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: infrastructure plan, I mean, which is just as critical as
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: as the plan for the stadium. So that's six hundred
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: million dollars Matt and I mean that's what Stuart Totham
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: and I have been saying. It's really his time to
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: believe that this can be done and to stimulate the economy.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, the amount of jobs that would be created
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: in just in construction of this studium that would be extraordinary.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: And then you've got the annual activity that had come
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: with it. You'd have this stadium running year round. It'll
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: be bringing people from a state, bringing people from overseas.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, you'd hope in future we bring in I
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: mean's international soccer teams from Southeast Asia, they might run
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: some of their games over all that sort of stuff.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: So I mean, you can get fixed on the price,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: or you can look at the concept and what the
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: derivatives might be, and that's what we're really trying to do.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: It was also reported that this could help boost the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Northern Territories chance of an AFL team, that a stadium
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: of these lights would be required for us to have
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: an AFL team. Is this a bit of a case
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: of the chicken and the egg, the stadium and the
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: team and which one could come first.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Of course it is. You've got to have these things
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: that roll together. And there's a lot of ardent supporters
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: of too stadium, but the fact is that it's an
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: older piece of infrastructure built in the late eighties and
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: early nineties, and if you want to attract those international
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: teams and those national high level professional teams, you need
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: something it is state of the art. And if we
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: want to have an AFL team, which I think we deserve,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: and I think the talent in the Northern Territory warrants
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: and will prove up, then when you do need to
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: have a stadium like this. We need to have a
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: facility that inspires people inspired there young people, inspire the
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: community and gets the community to flood into this ground,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: you know, for a territory thunder game or whatever it
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: might be, Northern Sun some people call it. Whatever the
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: concept is, whatever the team is, we need a stadium
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: like this that can really ground and found that team.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Sean, I know we both use the word before ambitious.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: This plan. Is it overly ambitious given where the anti
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: economy is at the moment, though.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's the right time to bring it forward. Matter.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: I mean, we can either sit on our hands and
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: say that we're struggling with the economy, which we are,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: we encounup with some proposals that are not going to
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: that are going to create additional activity, create additional economy
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: for the future now if you look at what's happening
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: down South Victoria has just come out with a massive
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: infrastructure plan, New South Wales, Queensland, they're all investing in
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: big infrastructure projects. And this is off the back of
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: in Sydney an already massive upgrade of their stadiums, and
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: similarly in Victoria they continue to upgrade and improve their infrastructure.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: So I think it's timely and I think we really
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: need to lift our eyes and see how this can
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: be done rather than just twiddling our thumbs and sitting
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: around and waiting for things to get worse, rather than
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: to working towards getting them better.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Sean, what happens next.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Next will be preparing some basic fusibility plans that will
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: happen in the next two to three months after Christmas.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: We'll continue talking with stakeholders. So there's being discussions at
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: an AFL level, AFL and T level with Dale Major
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: Business Group and the Chamber of Commerce and others. And
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: I was pleased to see that Alex Bruce from Tourism
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: came out back in the concept on the weekend, So
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: those discussions will have particularly with the Northern Territory government.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: We've discussed this with the Chief Minister, who's got a
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: lot on his plate at the moment, and we don't
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: want to overload him. We want to support him and
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: get in behind him, and then we want to support
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: him to go to the federal government and I know
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: that the AFL will support him too if we can
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: get this plan together. I mean, we have to do
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: the heavy lifting here in the Northern Territory, but I'm
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: certain that Gil mcgloughlin will support this proposal when the
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: time comes. So we need to take this plan, build
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: it with the Northern Territory government, build it with stakeholders
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: in dah and build it with the business community and
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: the public, and then we take it to the federal
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: government and ask them to support the project.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I know it's still very early days, but if you
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: got a timeline on this when Territorians could be sitting
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: down watching a game of AFL if it all goes ahead.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: I'd like to think five years is not unrealistic. Ten years.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: We've put ten years on it, but given the situation
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: we're in, if we are going to believe in this
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: concept and the Remote and Regional Infrastructure Plan which had
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: just transformed some of these regional areas. I mean, for
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: a start, you've got some Aboriginal communities where there's such
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: fantastic talent and such fantastic love of Australia football down there,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: and those communities and people who live there deserve to
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: have that upgrade so they can have proper ovals to
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: play on, proper change rooms, male and female change rooms,
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: a community hall that backs up what they're doing. So
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: I mean that needs to happen as soon as possible.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: And then Alice Springs needs that assistance as well, along
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: with Catherine. There's been talk about converting those showgrounds and
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: really making them into bit more of a showpiece for
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: the town of Katherine. So I mean, we just need
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: to keep talking to people and keep building these ideas. Mate.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Well, Sean, I said, I think it's ambitious, but I
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: love AFL, I love footy and I would love to
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: see it happen. Keep us posted with it, particularly once
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: you get to that stakeholder engagement part of the proposal,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: and yeah, we'll look forward to seeing where it goes.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks the chair, Thanks for the chair for talk
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: to you, Matt number Christmas.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Sean. You two. That is Sean Bowden. There
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: the af L n T chairman. There, this big, ambitious
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: is I guess the best way to describe at three
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: hundred million dollars stadium that they were wanting to build
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: in Darwin City