Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Simonds Stadium in Geelong is home to the greatest football team in the AFL. That is not my opinion, it is a fact. If you don't believe me you should read the member for Fenner's book The Economics of Just About Everything, because it proves it. This year, Geelong finished second on the ladder. While two of the top four teams did play a home final, Geelong, despite finishing second, was not one of them. Geelong played our so-called home final at the MCG, a ground where we had played just five matches this year. Richmond, the so-called away side, played 11 matches at the MCG this year. They played that number of games because it is their home ground. For the privilege of coming second, we got to play on the other team's home ground.

To be sure, Richmond played a great game on Friday night and would have won no matter where that game had been played. But that's not the point. I know the AFL will say that more Geelong fans were able to watch our team play on Friday because we played at the other team's home ground. But I say that is also beside the point. No other side in the competition has to give up home games for this reason, and I can't think of another side in the world that would. In 2015, Villanovense, who played in the fourth tier of the Spanish soccer league, were due to play host to Barcelona, a global giant of the game. Villanovense's home ground has 4,000 seats. Barcelona's home ground holds 100,000 fans. Do you know what? The game was played at the home team's home ground, for the very obvious reason that a home game is a home game. So don't tell me that a single Villanovense fan wished they had played at the other side's home ground and don't tell me that Geelong fans don't want to see Geelong play in Geelong.

Simonds Stadium is a world-class facility. It is past time that we saw Geelong Football Club playing home finals on their home ground. Geelong president Colin Carter will tell anyone who asks that Geelong is missing out on millions of dollars because our home games are being played at the MCG or Etihad instead of at the Cattery. Here is a quote from Colin: 'It's unreasonable in competitive terms because often were playing it against the team that considers it their home ground and it's really unreasonable from an economic point of view because we make a half a million dollars a game more at Simonds than we do at Etihad.' And who could argue with that?

For the past 15 years, Simonds Stadium has seen partnered investment by federal, state and local governments, by the Geelong Football Club and by the AFL itself. The first stage of the stadium's redevelopment, the now Hickey Stand, saw $14 million invested by the Bracks Victorian government and $6 million from the City of Greater Geelong. Stage 2, the Premiership Stand, saw an additional $14 million invested from the Rudd Labor government, $6 million from the Bracks-Brumby state Labor government and $1.5 million from the City of Greater Geelong. Stage 3, the Players Stand, took $26.5 million from the Victorian government—a legacy of the commitment that had previously been made by the former Brumby Labor government—$10 million from the Gillard Labor government and $3 million from the City of Greater Geelong. Stage 4, the Brownlow Stand replacement, saw $75 million from the Andrews state Labor government and $6 million from the City of Greater Geelong. It is a matter of pride that all these decisions were made by Labor governments state and federal. Sadly, the Abbott and Turnbull governments have shown their true colours and contributed nothing to this project.

The Simonds Stadium has been crucial for our city. It is the single biggest piece of sporting infrastructure in regional Australia. Sustained investment of taxpayers' money has given our city a wonderful asset. Now that we have it, we have to make the most of it. There is no point having a world-class stadium and playing games somewhere else. We will only get value from the investment the community has made if we play our home grounds at home. Since 2007, Geelong has played finals matches in every season except 2015. In that time, the Cats have played a grand total of one final match at our true home ground. No other team is required to play away from their home ground when they earn the right in finals. The idea that we are not using Simonds for any finals matches this year is unacceptable. The time has come, the ground is ready, the team is ready, the city is ready. It is time the Geelong Football Club played our home games on our home ground.