The Hobart City Council is opposed to using Cornelian Bay or the Queens Domain as a high-performance centre for Tasmania’s AFL team.
At a council meeting on Monday night, Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said the land, which is currently a public space, should stay as it is.
“Let’s not forget that both Cornelian Bay and the Domain are public parklands, and this proposal will transfer wherever it goes into the main ownership and management to the AFL, which is one of the wealthiest codes in the country,” Reynolds said.
“I personally think they should purchase a piece of land for their high performance centre, rather than drawing on public parkland and public open space.”
“My understanding of all of the facilities that do exist on the mainland is community access is very limited.”
“Even for our own elite sporting facilities, we do limit community access.”
The state government is currently considering potential locations for the facility as part of its agreement with the AFL.
Some councillors believe the council is acting prematurely and that more information is needed before making a decision.
Alderman Simon Behrakis said the council may be acting prematurely.
“I wouldn’t want council to be pre-empting anything that might happen in regards to this, we don’t really know too many of the details,” Behrakis said.
“I think us pre-empting and trying to effectively act as advocates or trying to dictate terms to the state government, I don’t think we’ll end up getting the result we want.”
“I’d rather us make it clear that we want to protect these aspects of Cornelian Bay or Queens Domain or any other areas that might be taken into consideration.”
The council suggests that the AFL should purchase land for its facility instead of using public parkland.
