Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down. So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a thing. Mint Mobile unlimited, premium wireless! Get 30-30, get 30, get 30, get 20, 20, get 20, get 20, get 20, get 20, get 15, 15, 15, just 15 bucks a month, so... Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $45 up front for three months plus taxes and fees, from a rate for new customers for limited time. Unlimited more than 40 gigabytes per month, slow. Full turns at Mint Mobile.com. Welcome back to the show. My next guest is joining me in the studio. It is Sports Minister Nick Street. Nice to see you, Minister. Good to see you too, mate. Thanks for coming in. Plenty happening in Tasmania. Sport Andrew, Dylan, of course, was in town last week. How did you go with Andrew and what sort of things did you talk about? Yeah, really good catch up with not to stand there, but a few others from the AFL as well. Grant was obviously... Grant O'Brien was at the meeting as well, which was terrific to see him as well. You know, we were talking about a stadium update. We were talking about the high performance center, obviously. But also, just a general catch up in terms of where we are, in terms of progress, they were really, really happy with the participation numbers that they've got. For this year, both boys and girls, they've seen an uptick already, which is terrific, which is exactly what we want to see from the announcement of the team. And the hope is that those numbers keep going from strength to strength as we get closer to the AFL team coming into the comp. Designs not too far away for McPoint. Do you think the public will be pleased with what they see? Look, I have got my fingers crossed with the public, obviously. We'll be very happy with what they see, and we'll release those designs as soon as they're ready. Do you think that the discourse surrounding the stadium might change now that people will have a clear idea of what McPoint might look like? Because we haven't had that. I think so. It's been a very abstract concept. The idea of people drive past the site all the time when they go through that intersection and obviously don't see anything there. I think once you can actually visualise what's going to be there, we hope that it will make it a very different conversation, just like the conversation around having an AFL team changed from when it was an idea as a concept that we'll pitch into the AFL as soon as you saw that they agreed to let the team in. You saw the support come forward in terms of the membership, 192,000 members. Two years ago, when we were talking about whether we could justify having a team who would have thought that that would be the result. So soon as you put stuff, put the visuals in front of people, it changes the conversation to be, hopefully. We've had Paul Lennon and Dean Coleman on this show talking about Mac 2.0 and Paul, I believe, wrote to all Tasmanian MPs over the weekend about the impact both starting proposals will have on the centre-taff. Did you get that email and what's your response to that? I've got the email. My concerns around 2.0 are the same as they've always been. There's still a lot of unanswered questions for me in terms of that proposal, and I still haven't been provided anything that's satisfied any of the questions that I've got. So we'll wait for that for Dean and Paul and that consortium to bring forward more information and then we'll go from there. Andrew Dillon, the AFL-COs, my guest on the Devil's Advocate this afternoon. Here's what he had to say about 2.0. Mac 2.0 has been around the surface for a little while. Can we put a line officially through that? If it hasn't been already, you can definitely do that. Pretty definitive minister? Look, pretty definitive from the AFL, and whilst the stadium at Mac Point isn't an AFL-only stadium and we've been quick to stress that from the start that it's a multi-purpose stadium, the fact of the matter is that we do have a contract with the AFL that specifies where the stadium has to be built, and that's why Andrew is comfortable putting a line through it. You do have some things to navigate, though, don't you, with the good shed and the centre-tar issues with the RSL on things? Are you confident that you'll be able to tackle all those? Look, I'm really confident that we can deal with all those issues, but I'm also acutely aware that we have to deal with them as well. We want to make sure that stakeholders are as happy as possible with the end result, whether we can get to a point where everyone's 100% satisfied is probably unlikely. That's just the nature of doing any development of this size, but we'll continue to work with any stakeholder that has an opinion or a peripheral position around the stadium as well. How about the high-performance centre? I feel like, just from the outset, looking in that Kimber is well and truly back in the mix for this. Would you say that? We asked Andrew Dillon that, too. Is it 50/50? He still believes Rosney is the preferred site, but there's a few issues going on over there. Look, we announced Rosney is the preferred site last December, but even when we did that, we made it clear that we were going to continue to do our due diligence at both sites because there were still issues to work through. That due diligence hasn't changed. We're still doing it at both sites. I think either site will be a terrific site for the high-performance centre. Rosney still remains the preferred site, but if that changes, then we'll let people know as quickly as we can. Got a text in here on the Harcourt's open line. It says, "Good morning SCN Tazzy, boys. Please ask Minister Nick Street why it hasn't the Tasmanian Government not declared the Rosney HPC a major project, hence removing CCC of all the unnecessary delays and costly drama." The legislation was introduced for developments like this. Thank you from George. Understand the sentiment, but also was it George? George, we've been clear that we want to work with people rather than try and work over processes. We will continue to work through both of these sites at Clarence and Kingston with the respective councils, and that's our preferred way of working at this stage. Let's go to basketball. Some really exciting news last week that Larry Kesselman and the NBA were looking to take a joint chunk of the WNBL, which would be great, and we've seen what Larry's been able to do with the NBA. The Jack Jumpers have obviously strongly expressed an interest in joining that competition. Is that something you're interested in from sports minister's perspective? Look, it absolutely is. It's obviously at a preliminary stage, but I've got to say, I've had conversations with Kristin Finning and others at the Jack Jumpers about the WNBL. Where is the government actually paid some money to basketball Australia to bring a WNBL game down here? A couple of seasons back, the Southside Fliers and Bendigo, I think it was, and I attended that match, and the actual game itself was as good as you'll see. And we know how well the Australian team, the Opal, stacked up on an international stage. But one of the things that I think was the biggest difference between attending the WNBL and the NBA was the actual presentation of the game, and I think it's one of the things that the WNBL needs. I think with Larry's input and everything that they've brought to the presentation in the MBL, I think the WNBL could be an incredibly important competition in international basketball. And if there is an opportunity for the Jack Jumpers to have a female licence, that's a conversation that the government desperately wants to have with the Jack Jumpers as well. Speaking about the Jackies, obviously sell out crowds every week, there's a look at expanding my state underway at the moment. Where's that at, and do you think that needs to happen? Look, I believe that that work's going on at the minute. I haven't seen the results of that work, but we look forward to talking to the OK Group and to the Jack Jumpers once they've firmed up the work that they're doing out there. Got another text in here on the Harkotz, open line question for Minister Strett, it's quite lengthy, so I'll try and get through it as quick as I can. With the election commitment to the Launceston Tornadoes, MBL won club of $100,000 to promote women's equality in basketball and pathways for young female players in northern Tasmania. Will the government be providing the same support to the Hobart Chargers, women's programme to promote equality and pathways for young females in southern Tasmania? And it goes on a little bit from there, but your response to that? Look, the commitment that was made to the Tornadoes was made during the election campaign. It was made after a submission by the Tornadoes to one of the local candidates up there. It was assessed like all of the other proposals that were put in front of us during the election campaign, and a decision was made to fund it. Certainly, me as a local member down here, I didn't receive anything from the Hobart Chargers of the like, but we're more than happy to continue talking to the Hobart Chargers about how we support that club and basket ball in the south of the state as well. What do you know about the national second to soccer competition? It's one that confuses me. It doesn't have the backing of football Tasmania. It seems like it early. It was a South Hobart bid, which is now a bit on behalf of the state. Have you been approached about this? And is it likely to happen? Yeah, look, I've met the people behind that proposal a couple of times. Firstly, when it was a South Hobart proposal, then when it was more of a Tasmanian proposal, like you said, I think one of the important aspects of this is that it isn't supported by football TAS. We've got teams in second-tier sports right across the spectrum, but what we want to make sure is that when we do have those teams in those competitions that actually helps the ecosystem that sits below it in terms of local sport, I would have real concerns if football Tasmania don't support the proposal, that their biggest concern would be the effect it would have on local soccer, rather than adding to what we've got that it might detract from it as well. And so that's an issue that the consortium would have to work through with football TAS. I've got to say as well that the quantum of funding that they're asking for to make it a reality as well is light is in difference to what the government contributes to other sports for bisty supposition and second-tier comps. Can you tell us what that is? No, look, I'm not going to disclose that that's a conversation that they had in terms of coming to us and asking, I don't think it's fair to be putting those numbers on the table. All I'll say is that there is a vast difference between what we, the support that we provide to somebody in the second-tier basketball competitions, for example, as to what they need to make this stack up. What about ALIG? Where does that fit in the scheme of things? Obviously you've got hurricanes, jack jumpers, hurricanes, women as well over that summer period. Does ALIG, is there room for an ALIG team down the track? I think there's potentially room for an ALIG team, but again there are a lot of issues to work through in terms of participation of a TAS minor in the ALIG as well. Netball, a ripping night on Saturday at my state bank arena with the Mavericks in town of course, so I've been pushing this for a while. I think there's a real appetite for a Super Netball team here in Tassie. We've got the venue out there ready to go. You've got lots of questions coming here about different teams, but there's so much opportunity here in Tassie, isn't it? It's one of the great things though, isn't it? How long ago or five years ago would we be talking about Tasmanian teams participating in national competitions? And national competitions actively pursuing Tasmania to become part of their competition rather than the other way around. Again, there are some issues around the Super Netball, I don't even know whether they're looking at expansion in terms of the number of teams at the minute. I think they're at eight and they're pretty happy with that number, but any time Netball Australia want to come and have a conversation with us about participation in the Super Netball competition, we're more than happy to have that conversation. Having said that, like I said, I didn't get there Saturday night, but apparently a terrific night. And I've got to say that Super Netball has done already and got in front of the WMBL in terms of its presentation of its product. I think that they found a niche for women's sport with the Super Netball series and the promotion of it, and it's something that Netball should be incredibly proud of. Just back on the WMBL, would you consider having a game here again between Southside and whoever or another club? Look, again, their conversations that we have all the time, they purely come down to a value judgment for us in terms of the quantum of funding that's required versus what the sport's prepared to bring. If they're prepared to bring two sides down, not just for two nights, potentially for a game, but they're prepared to have them here to run some clinics, get some community participation, then that's certainly something that we look at. Now, a question here from Matty Snapper Reid, who's our racing expert. Are you worried about this? I was worried about it when you told me beforehand that he texted in. I'm more worried now, Brent. It says, "What chance a team duck to go back to back at Barnbougall?" He wants to know. So he's referring to a 10 on 10 series that gets played late July between a group of us. Team duck will go back to back. We've got some work to do overall. We've been doing that for about 10 years, and I think we're down a couple of trophies, but rallied last year and looking to go back to back like he said. Very good. Now, how are you going, mate? Because you've been really open and honest about your mental health and applaud you for that. It must be a really tough thing to do. You've been away for a little period, but you're back on deck now. How's things going for you? Yeah, look, I've been back at work for a week, Brent. Really tough period of time, but like I've said before, I've got an incredible family, really supportive group of friends who've been with me the whole way through this. I feel like I've worked my way through it, and I'm coming out the other side of it now, which is great. Still got a little bit of the process to go, but enjoying being back at work, even enjoying being back in the office with Tim, my chief of staff, which is a surprise to me that even after a week, I was actually glad to be back around him. Yeah, look, I'm not to make light of it. It's been a tough time, and what I would say to people is reach out and ask for help if you need it. If somebody's leg was as bad as my head was two months ago, they would never think about ignoring it. Don't ignore it. Don't think it's going to go away, seek professional help, and make sure that you get the support of family and friends around you while you're going through it as well. Yeah, really well said, and I'm sure you're helping people just by being so open and honest with it and putting it out there. So yeah, as I said, I poured you for that. And thanks again for coming in this morning. I appreciate you giving us an update on all things sport, plenty going on, which is really exciting and good luck with it all moving forward. Anytime, mate. Nick Straight, joining us the sports minister here in the SCN Tazzy Studios. We're off to our final break of the morning. We are powered by Kubota. Take on any job with Kubota's range of tractors, males, and utility vehicles. Still time for a couple of last texts on the Harkorts Open Line. Harkorts results for you. 0437, 552, 535. (upbeat music)
