Bill Shorten to waste more than $25 million of taxpayer funds on footy in Tasmania

This is why we pay so much in tax, so self-seeking politicians can use it to buy votes.

Bill Shorten says it’s time Tasmania had an AFL team of their own. The Labor Leader has promised $25 million in taxpayer funds to establish a new AFL club, along with a $5 million “investment” for grassroots footy clubs.

“It’s time Tassie had an AFL team of their own,” Shorten Tweeted. “That’s why we will invest $25 million to get it over the line.”

Attached to the tweet was a graphic that read, “Labor’s backing footy in Tasmania. $5 million investment in grassroots footy clubs. $25 million in funding to support the establishment of an AFL club.

That’s a $30-million donation to sport. No, one particular sport! Never mind soccer, basketball, or any other sport for that matter. Could this money not be better used on hospitals, schools, farmers, assisting the homeless, or the elderly?

Each year the AFL generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and they don’t pay a cent in tax, the Sydney Morning Herald revealed. What’s worse, they’ve called on the public to pay billions of dollars to build new stadiums.

Richard Denniss, chief economist at the Australian Institute said, “I think the fact that these sports pay no corporate tax and then turn around and ask the taxpayer to fund the stage on which their performance is played out is absurd and obscene.”