Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / AFL NT chairman Sean Bowden outlines a new stadium proposal for Darwin

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AFL NT chairman Sean Bowden outlines a new stadium proposal for Darwin · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: We know that this preliminary report into a three hundred
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  Speaker 1: million dollar doll in stadium has been completed or it's
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  Speaker 1: certainly been undertaken. Now joining me on the line to
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  Speaker 1: tell us a little bit more about the situation from
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  Speaker 1: the AFL's perspective. AFL NT Chairman Sean Bowden, Good morning
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  Speaker 1: to you.
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  Speaker 2: Sean, Good morning Toty.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. Sean, tell
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  Speaker 1: us a little bit more about the proposal when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to the stadium, and I guess in the context
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  Speaker 1: of the Territori's footy team as well.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I.
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  Speaker 2: Mean, as your listeners are were. It's a piece of
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  Speaker 2: work that the IFL INTE started the year or so
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  Speaker 2: ago thinking about both a AFL team and a stadium.
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  Speaker 2: We firmly believe the two things are complementary and in
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  Speaker 2: many respects contingent upon each other. The football team becomes
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  Speaker 2: almost the base tenant for the stadium, but the stadium of.
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  Speaker 3: Courses a whole lot more.
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  Speaker 2: And what we've been doing over the last six to
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  Speaker 2: nine months is running a series of stakeholder forums with
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  Speaker 2: business and stakeholders like cricket and rugby and soccer in
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  Speaker 2: the Northern territory, just talking about how it might take
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  Speaker 2: shape and how it might look. And we've also had
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  Speaker 2: a lot of input from territorians who look to the southeast,
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  Speaker 2: sorry to the northeast and not to the southeast Katy
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  Speaker 2: and into Asia and Southeast Asia, and there's been some
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  Speaker 2: exploratory work done about whether we might be a with
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  Speaker 2: a good stadium, for instance, be able to host IPL
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  Speaker 2: cricket out of India. It's an enormously growing sport, as
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  Speaker 2: people would be aware the cricket in India and they're
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  Speaker 2: running out of venues and they're playing in aber Dhabi
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  Speaker 2: and Dubai in these places, we think there's a real
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  Speaker 2: option there. Similarly, with the soccer leagues that are running
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  Speaker 2: in Southeast Asia, these are very strong leagues and some
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  Speaker 2: Australian teams play in them. Well, this is another option,
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  Speaker 2: So you start to build a narrative around it and
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  Speaker 2: a business case fulfilling the stadium forty fifty weeks of
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  Speaker 2: the year, you might get ten or eleven AFL guys,
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  Speaker 2: so you need to have that other opportunity. And as
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  Speaker 2: a result of that, the business case of the stadium
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  Speaker 2: started to take shape and Turglos said to us well,
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  Speaker 2: rather than hitting the pause button here, can we get ahead?
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  Speaker 2: So we're now thinking about moving to what I think
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  Speaker 2: the financial people call a bankable business study or a
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  Speaker 2: makable business case, where you really get into the nitty
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  Speaker 2: gritty of how it looks and how it works. And
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  Speaker 2: that's going to require an enormous amount of extra work
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  Speaker 2: and we're going to have to work in really closely
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  Speaker 2: with the government and the Department and all of the
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  Speaker 2: stakeholders in the territory.
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  Speaker 3: But so far we're moving, we think in the right direction.
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  Speaker 1: We did just speak to Minister Kate Wharton, obviously an
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  Speaker 1: interview about other things, but did ask her about the
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  Speaker 1: stadium and she said, you know, we can't put the
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  Speaker 1: horse before the cart, or the cart before the horse,
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  Speaker 1: in the sense that we need to make sure that
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  Speaker 1: we've done all the feasibility study as well, or everything
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  Speaker 1: that needs to be done when it comes to the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory having an AFL team and what that would
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  Speaker 1: look like. So, you know, what is the situation here,
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  Speaker 1: do we need to make sure that we've firmed that
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  Speaker 1: up before we look towards building a stadium.
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  Speaker 3: I think the two.
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  Speaker 2: Run parallel, and you've used the analogy of the cart
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  Speaker 2: and the horse. You also might think about the chicken
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  Speaker 2: and the egg, and the two sort of do.
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  Speaker 3: Run parallel and they come together.
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  Speaker 2: And so if there is to be an AFL team,
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  Speaker 2: the AFL team is going to need a home base
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  Speaker 2: and it's going to need an iconic central place to play.
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  Speaker 2: Marara as a stadium that was built a long time
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  Speaker 2: ago on the nineteen nineties.
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  Speaker 3: It's not in the city center. It's not activating the
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  Speaker 3: city center.
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  Speaker 2: So there's a very strong view in the territory community
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  Speaker 2: that I'm picking up that.
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  Speaker 3: We need that new stadium for that.
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  Speaker 2: Then you build off for all the other purposes that
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  Speaker 2: I'm talking about and our relationships at AFL until you
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  Speaker 2: go into the other sports and India other stakeholders. So
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  Speaker 2: we think they run parallel, Codie, and we'll keep working
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  Speaker 2: that way.
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  Speaker 1: Where exactly would it be, Well.
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  Speaker 2: There's no fixed sight, but there's a couple of proposed sides.
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  Speaker 2: One of them is that Garimla junction. You might call
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  Speaker 2: it as you're coming up Tiger Brennan Drive and you're
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  Speaker 2: running up Garimela Boo all of art into the city,
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  Speaker 2: and if you look at that vacant area to the
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  Speaker 2: left for those that do.
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  Speaker 3: That drive every day.
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  Speaker 2: There's a nice area of land there that is a
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  Speaker 2: form of tank farm, and the advice we've got is
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  Speaker 2: that there's no serious contamination there. Obviously all these things
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  Speaker 2: have to be tested, but that would be a spot
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  Speaker 2: right in nestling into the city with water views, and
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  Speaker 2: so that one's under consideration. It could also be considered
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  Speaker 2: that the oil could go out at Marara and Telio
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  Speaker 2: could be given an upgrade, and that's certainly not off
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  Speaker 2: the table. Yeah right, Yeah, that's all things are under consideration.
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  Speaker 2: There's other options moving at the stadium, even looking further
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  Speaker 2: closer to the waterfront over there with the Perkins wall,
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  Speaker 2: start moving up to those tank farms. They're very significant
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  Speaker 2: issues there around previous use. And also have to consult
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  Speaker 2: very closely with the Laroche of people about that. They're
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  Speaker 2: building the cultural center not far from there, so it
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  Speaker 2: might be, you know, whatever it is, we'll be looking
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  Speaker 2: for the best best fit that links the waterfront, the
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  Speaker 2: Larochie Cultural Center, the stadium, the city and you start
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  Speaker 2: to get this what we think it to be a
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  Speaker 2: very nice mix that had really I mean as well
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  Speaker 2: as having something that'd be iconic and people would say, Hey,
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  Speaker 2: I've been to Darwin. You should see that you stadium,
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  Speaker 2: have a look at that. And we build it in
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  Speaker 2: great territory style, and we put all the territory culture
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  Speaker 2: and flavor into it, and you'd have people coming to
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  Speaker 2: the city and staying. Hopefully if the ASL games are going,
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  Speaker 2: we'd be running back to back games like we've got
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  Speaker 2: this week, and we'd bring a support group in that
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  Speaker 2: we might then say right now, I'm going to stay
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  Speaker 2: for the week. I'm going to see the Larochie Culture Center.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to spend some time at the water front.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to go across to the tee the Islands
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  Speaker 2: and to go to this field, and then I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to come back and watch another game of football or
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  Speaker 2: as it might Boucadia concert or something else that's running
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  Speaker 2: during the wet season.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it certainly sounds like there is quite a bit
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  Speaker 1: happening behind the scenes, you know, to well see if
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  Speaker 1: we can get to the point where the stadium is
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  Speaker 1: built and where we do have our very own AFL team.
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  Speaker 1: I guess, Sean, the multimillion dollar question is how's it
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  Speaker 1: going to be funded?
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  Speaker 2: Well, at the moment, we're building on the basis of
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  Speaker 2: a public private partnership. That's we're looking at banking this
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  Speaker 2: thing with private infrastructure funds and money.
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  Speaker 3: We don't have.
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  Speaker 2: Our handout to the government, and we're not asking the
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  Speaker 2: government to fund this at the market.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 2: In due course, realistically we're going to have to have
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  Speaker 2: a very careful discussion with the government around the infrastructure
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  Speaker 2: and all and the land and all these things, and
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  Speaker 2: ultimately if we can establish the business case, we'll welcome
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  Speaker 2: government support. But at the moment it's it's it's really
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  Speaker 2: heartening to see that the support and the attention given
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  Speaker 2: to it, but we're we're not in the play asking
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  Speaker 2: got our handout to government.
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  Speaker 3: For the for the stadium.
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  Speaker 2: With the IFL team, well that's the work that Minister
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  Speaker 2: Warden is referring to, and and I coach airing a
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  Speaker 2: task force there and we're at the same time getting
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  Speaker 2: down into the netty gritty of how that stacks up.
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  Speaker 2: And that's also starting to build some momentum. So it's
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  Speaker 2: heating in the right direction as well.
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  Speaker 1: Is the reality san Is the reality going to be though?
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  Speaker 1: If we if we don't have our own northern territory
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  Speaker 1: AFL team that realistically, you know there won't be the
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  Speaker 1: need for that stadium.
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  Speaker 2: It could be right, It could well be right about that,
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  Speaker 2: and yet we're not. We're not conceding for one second
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  Speaker 2: that we can't have our own AFL tape. We think
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  Speaker 2: we're moving in the right direction there. If you look
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  Speaker 2: to the Tasmanians, there are a few years ahead of
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  Speaker 2: us there and they got themselves in the slot for
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  Speaker 2: a nineteenth team. Well, all the messaging on getting from
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  Speaker 2: down south, this is the nineteenth team. We should have
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  Speaker 2: a twentieth time. And if we've got one in Tasmania,
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  Speaker 2: we need one in the Northern territory that completes the AFL,
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  Speaker 2: that completes the national competition. And there's a sense that
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  Speaker 2: without the Northern Territory at the moment, especially given the
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  Speaker 2: Great Love and the Great presence, we've got participation in
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  Speaker 2: Australian littles football. Without that, Without that in the national game,
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  Speaker 2: Tasmanian and the Tasmani entry doesn't look as strong. Now
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  Speaker 2: we might not be in with the Tasmanians, but it
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  Speaker 2: might be that there's a sort of sequential play set
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  Speaker 2: up there where the Tasmanians might come in and then
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  Speaker 2: we might follow them, or we might come at the
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  Speaker 2: same time. And the horizons long. We're not looking at
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four or twenty twenty five. We're projecting out
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  Speaker 2: to the end of this decade, maybe twenty twenty eighth,
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  Speaker 2: twenty thirty. So we're not rushing at it, and we're
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  Speaker 2: doing that work that the Minister would have spoken to
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  Speaker 2: you about to make sure that should the opportunity really present,
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  Speaker 2: we're there. And at the same time, when you see
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  Speaker 2: the Tasmanians have said that they're going to build a stadium.
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  Speaker 2: So the Premier of Tasmania has put seven hundred and
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  Speaker 2: fifty million dollars down for a stadium for the Tasmanian
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  Speaker 2: for Hobart, and so they've realized that the two things
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  Speaker 2: do run parallel and and many respects contingent upon each other.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what, it's certainly interesting and I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to be keeping a really close on it. I
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  Speaker 1: think that everybody would love for the territory to have
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  Speaker 1: their own AFL team. I think we all love the
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  Speaker 1: idea as well of a stadium. But like you've you've
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  Speaker 1: pointed out and through the feasibility studies which are currently underway.
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  Speaker 1: It's about making sure it all stacks up and you know,
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  Speaker 1: hopefully exciting times for the territory and indeed sport.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah and similar Cardie I should mention it is picked
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  Speaker 2: up in an Northern Inte news story that they fell
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  Speaker 2: into is pitching from a big upgrade to the remote infrastructure.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah framework in the territory. We've got big issues out
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  Speaker 2: in the Bush. I think with just living ability, a
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  Speaker 2: livability applies to dar when it also applies to the
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  Speaker 2: Bush and of the remote communities as we're seeing at
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  Speaker 2: the moment, and some of those communities, we think sport
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  Speaker 2: and football.
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  Speaker 3: Players are a really great role there.
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  Speaker 2: And we look at the ovals that our people are
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  Speaker 2: playing on that we want to upgrade those. We want
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  Speaker 2: to get the right amenities, the right facilities. We want
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  Speaker 2: to get power and water to these ovals, acceptable community
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  Speaker 2: structures and activate and use these places to activate the
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  Speaker 2: hubs of these communities as well, just like the stadium
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  Speaker 2: at a super level would activate Darwin. We're pitching up
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  Speaker 2: and we have spoken to both political parties about whether
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  Speaker 2: they might have an appetite to support a really targeted
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  Speaker 2: and significant remote infrastructure fund.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Sean Bowden, it is always good to catch up
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  Speaker 1: with you. We appreciate your time this morning. I think
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  Speaker 1: you're out in Nullan Boil somewhere today.
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  Speaker 3: I'm at nullen Boy Stadium.
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  Speaker 2: I'm on the way from Ski Beach or Gleningra to
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  Speaker 2: Yitklor and I've got a little bit of work to
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  Speaker 2: do here today. But it's always terrific to talk to you.
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  Speaker 2: And I think it's one of the great things about
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  Speaker 2: the territory that you could be doing these things. You'd
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  Speaker 2: be talking about dah in the stadium, you can also
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  Speaker 2: be talking about an Overallett, Ski Bee, Orgia Tarla and
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  Speaker 2: working these things in the right direction.
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  Speaker 1: Hopefully, absolutely well. We appreciate you taking the time to
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  Speaker 1: have a chat with us this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Sean.
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  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you again soon.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks, thank you,