Motion - Basketball Tasmania State Facilities Strategy 2025-2035

Tuesday 8 April 2025

[11.28 p.m.]

Ms THOMAS (Elwick) - Mr President, I move -

That the Legislative Council:

(1)     Considers and notes the Basketball Tasmania State Facilities Strategy 2025-2035, highlighting the urgent need for substantial investment in community basketball infrastructure across the state;

(2)     Notes that, in Tasmania, basketball is the number one team sport for adults and number three team sport for children (source: 2024 Ausplay data);

(3)     Notes that Basketball Tasmania has seen an average annual participation growth rate of over 9 per cent since 2020, with 19, 013 participants in 2024;

(4)     Agrees there is an urgent need for more community basketball facilities, with a current critical shortage of 16 courts in the Greater Hobart area alone and a total shortage of 31 courts statewide;

(5)     Notes the collaborative efforts of the Hobart Basketball Association in partnership with Hobart City Council, and with the support of Basketball Tasmania, to make New Town Bay the home for Hobart basketball, through the development of a four-court community basketball and clubroom facility at a cost of approximately $25 million;

(6)     Notes the state government contribution of $80,000 to support the progression of site investigation, design and planning work sufficient to submit a development application for this new facility, with Hobart City Council contributing the land plus the remaining development application costs and Hobart Phoenix having funded the fully costed design works;

(7)     Notes the state government has invested in new and upgraded community indoor court facilities across the state in recent years, but investment in the highest growth area of Greater Hobart has been limited and the capital city of Hobart has no community indoor basketball facilities;

(8)     Notes the significant commitment by the state government to invest in high performance training and game day facilities for professional sport, contributing to an increase in grassroots participation;

(9)     Calls on the state government to commit to funding a share of the $25 million community court and clubroom facility at New Town Bay, to demonstrate the importance of this project and increase the likelihood of securing federal government funding; and

(10)   Calls on the state government to include the Home for Hobart basketball project at New Town Bay as a priority in its federal election advocacy, seeking a commitment to federal funding for the project.

[12.41 p.m.]

Ms ARMITAGE (Launceston) - Mr President, I thank the member for bringing the motion forward. As we know, sport is extremely important for all ages. It does not really matter whether you are young old, or in the middle, it is something that is important. I thank the member for Mersey, too. It was very interesting to hear that you actually played a game for Brazil.

Mr Gaffney - No, I know, they were nuts. They were desperate - they were funny, but it was great. I took it easy on them.

Ms ARMITAGE - It obviously was not the final that you had to have played a certain amount of games to participate.

Mr Gaffney - It was a tournament I played for Brazil.

Ms ARMITAGE - A man of many talents, as we continue to learn.

Mr Gaffney - I played centre.

Ms ARMITAGE - Wow.

Ms Forrest - Not tall enough to be in the back lot.

Ms ARMITAGE - It would be really good if it was online and we could actually watch it, but I am sure it is not. Unlike the member for Hobart, I am not going to get into a north‑south debate.

Ms O'Connor - The member for Elwick started the north‑south debate, to be fair.

Ms ARMITAGE - I am not worried whether roads are better in the north or better in the south. I think sport is important wherever it is played. It is great that we actually have a home, not the home of basketball, but a home of basketball in the south.

As has been mentioned, the growth in basketball - I know in the north, when the YMCA was closed, the amount of courts, or the lack of court space was such an issue, for young people particularly. I think it has been mentioned that one of the biggest problems was that, yes, you could play, but you might not be able to play until 8.30 or 9.00 p.m. at night when the court was available. That is certainly not something that young people can do.

I am not going to say a lot. I appreciate the motion before us and the amount of work that has gone into it. I listened intently and, when I had to leave the Chamber for a moment, I did listen in my room, so I heard all the comments.

I am not really sure about the amount of money. As I said, I would normally not commit or ask the government to commit to funding, but I think in this case, we are not asking them to commit to $25 million. It is a share, and they can work out how much money they can afford or what can go into it. As we know, the healthier people are, the less they go into hospitals, so it has a flow‑on effect. I am very happy to support the motion before us and I thank the member for bringing it forward, even though it is in what we call the capital, whereas I believe that the true capital is Launceston.

Well, I am still supporting this in the south and not going on about what we have in the north, but it was mentioned by the member for the Greens several times that it is the capital. To me, that is up for debate, but I support the motion before us and I thank the member for bringing it forward.