ANIKA WELLS MP
MINISTER FOR AGED CARE
MINISTER FOR SPORT

MATT SMITH
LABOR CANDIDATE FOR LEICHHARDT

 

PRESS CONFERENCE - NRLW HIGH PERFORMANCE CENTRE, CAIRNS - 29 APRIL 2025

 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
WEST BARLOW PARK, CAIRNS
TUESDAY, 29 APRIL 2025

SUBJECTS: $15 Million for North Queensland Cowboys NRLW High Performance Centre in Cairns; Supporting Women’s Sport; Leichhardt Campaign; Cairns Local Council; Rural Doctors; Aged Care Volunteering.

MATT SMITH, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR LEICHHARDT: Women’s sport has been the poor cousin of men’s sport for far, far too long. If you look around just Cairns, we had Jo Butland, who is a generational athlete who has not been given the opportunities that she would have had she been born today. A dual international, she could have been anything.

With this sort of facility, now the girls and women of Cairns can become what they want to become athletically. We have proven to be a hot bed of athletic talent across the Far North; Justin Hodges, Nathan Jawai, Aron Baynes...everybody. And now we are in a position to help our women and girls grow into the best athletes they can possibly be. And it's more than that; it's providing role models; it's providing opportunities. For so many people their best memories of childhood is sitting down with their father or their mother watching their favourite team play whatever sport it is. This gives us that other opportunity here for women and girls to watch their heroes, such as Tahlulah Tillett, who has been a great ambassador for the region, to come home play in front of their fans and inspire that next generation.

I want to thank the North Queensland Cowboys for their advocacy in this project. Mayor Amy Eden for her vision for Cairns to become a women's hub for sport. This is the first domino, though you know that there are many more opportunities for women's high performance sport in this region, and with that I'll hand over now to Minister Wells.

ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND SPORT: Thank you so much Matt - such a brilliant candidate for us. We're so thrilled with him, and he has been fighting so hard for you all in Canberra and in places like my mobile phone to try and get you everything that you need here in Cairns. Thank you to the Cowboys. Thank you to the King of the North, JT. Thank you to our mayor and to our tourism representatives for joining us here this morning as we together shape a better future for women's sport in Cairns. A future that finally includes a direct pathway to elite football.

Today, Labor is committing $15 million to support a local community development and high performance facility right here at West Barlow Park. The centre will be used as the permanent headquarters and training facility for the North Queensland Cowboys NRLW team, which will move to Cairns and will be home to the Northern Pride women's team, which plays in the state competition, up against my Norths Devils. It means girls here can grow up playing for the Cairns Kangaroos, for the Yarrabah Seahawks, or come from Tully or Innisfail, and they can graduate to the Cowboys NRLW team and play for their community without having to move away, and I think that's a really good thing. Cairns is home to many of Queensland's great male league players, from Matt Bowen to the Hammer, but this centre will really foster a future generation of elite female players as well.

It's really a game changer for women and girls here in the Far North. This investment will also provide the Cowboys with a permanent base to expand their community programmes, not just here in Cairns, but through the Cape and Gulf as well. And I'd like to shout out Anita (Creenaune), although she may murder me at the end of this press conference for doing it, Anita, who joins us here today, has been with the Cowboys for almost 20 years. She's a prodigy who started work at eight years old, obviously. Just thinking about what Anita would have seen across almost 20 years here. The changes to perception of women's sport; changes to awareness to women's sport; changes to resourcing for women's sport – it's phenomenal. We need more Anita’s supporting more female athletes, and we need more female support staff in more regions across the country, and that's what an NRLW centre here is going to deliver right beside a Brisbane 2032 venue in Barlow Park, which the Labor Government is also committing tens-of-millions of dollars to upgrading.

Again, this would not have been done, I promise you, without the advocacy of Matt Smith, your Labor candidate. Because Matt, like our Labor Government, truly believes in women's sport from playground to podium. With that, we're going to hand over to Jeff.

JEFF REIBEL, NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS CEO: Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys, I think the Minister and also Matt have said it very well what this means, not only to our club, but also to the North Queensland community, the Cairns community. We are truly grateful to the Minister and also to Matt for their advocacy for a vision and a project for us that will see us being able to expand our infrastructure throughout North Queensland; Giving our NRLW team a world class facility right here in Cairns, giving the Cairns community access to that facility, and giving our team a community of their own.

This has been a project and a vision that's been in play for quite a little while and certainly not been possible without the support that we've received here on the ground and the local advocacy. I too would like to thank Mayor Amy Eden and the Cairns Regional Council for their support, Jacinta from Advance Cairns, and all of the advocacy groups here in Cairns that have embraced the Cowboys vision and our vision of ensuring that our NRLW pathway and our NRLW team has an opportunity to stay local, to thrive locally. To the Minister, thank you again; to Matt, thank you for your support. We truly look forward to being able to turn some soil and get this project moving. Thank you.

JOHNATHAN THURSTON, JTACADEMY MANAGING DIRECTOR, FORMER PLAYER NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS: This is a great opportunity for the North Queensland community, especially here in Cairns, to have a high performance centre, obviously for the NRLW team, but also for the 2032 Olympics that are coming up. All those teenagers now that are aspiring to become athletes, you'll have a home built high performance centre here to bring out the best in your sport. It's a pleasure to be here, obviously I live in Townsville, but I am a North Queenslander now through-and-through and to be here in Cairns with this announcement is truly a humbling feeling. I throw full support behind it, so thank you.

WELLS: Thanks JT, any questions?

JOURNALIST: Matt probably a quarter of the parish has already voted, and we are days out from the election. Why has it taken so long to get this announcement?

SMITH: Well, we've got checks and balances here, so whenever you're delivering something, you need to know that you don't happen to cut jobs or services to ensure that it's delivered, and that's what the Labor Government does. We went through the necessary checks and balances to get this done. This isn't a vote buying exercise. As you pointed out, 20% of the populace has already voted. This is being done because it's the right thing to do to give women and girls that opportunity for elite sport here in Cairns. Opportunities that I've had, opportunities that countless men have had right across the region, and this just levels the playing field.

JOURNALIST: And why not do it a few weeks ago and starve of the Opposition of having attack points on you?

SMITH: I don't run on the LNP's time, as I've said multiple times. Like I said, there's got to be checks and balances to these things. We went through the process, we've discovered we can fund it, and here we are.

JOURNALIST: Just on that there's a $15 million short fall still to have an equivalent $40 million facility that's equal to the men's High Performance Centre in Townsville. The hope is that that will come from the State Government. How important is that money, even in as a gesture or to represent the fact that women's sport is taken seriously and that you actually - you know - this isn't just a tokenistic gesture or something that is going to be less than what the men have in Townsville?

SMITH: That additional funding is critically important, and discussions continue with the LNP State Government. I think they understand how important women's sport is, particularly for 2032 Olympics coming up. Women's sport has come along so far in the last 30 years. Looking at my own experience in basketball, the way the game has changed, the way it's played, there are arguments now that the women's game is actually more skilful than the men's game, because they're not relying purely on athleticism and size, and I'm really looking forward to that being a part of rugby league up here in the Far North.

JOURNALIST: So, I mean, are you going to help lobby and campaign for that extra 15 million? Because that's still needed.

SMITH: Absolutely, absolutely, you know, if, if, in five days’ time, I find myself the Member for Leichhardt, yes you know, I'll be in touch with Terry James, I'll be in touch with Bree, I'll continue to work with Mayor Eden to get this done for the region.

JOURNALIST: A question for Jeff, if that's okay? Jeff, there was brief hope in Mackay that this centre would end up down there. What you have to say to the poor people from Mackay who have been left out?

REIBEL: I don't think anyone's been left out and I think there was a fair bit of speculation around Mackay. I know that there's a development down at Harrup Park that's moving ahead, and that will be something that we will keep a good eye on. Again, I talk about North Queensland Cowboys. We are part of the entirety of North Queensland, and we'll continue some conversations down there when the time is right.

JOURNALIST: How seriously did you kick the tires on alternative options that were presented to you?

REIBEL: I think it was important that we shouldn’t, and we weren't disingenuous to the work in the advocacy that the community and the political leaders up here in Cairns have given us. What we wanted to ensure is that we did look under every rock to see to ensure that we could give our NRLW team also, it's also part of an overall strategy, the Cowboys being across our entire footprint, so it'd be wrong of us not to have a look. But we always kept on coming back to this being our first option, and with this funding commitment today, it gives us the real opportunity for this to move forward.

JOURNALIST: How does the playing group feel about the prospect of having to relocate and uplift their lives and the playing staff in 2027?

REIBEL: I'll answer that in two ways. First of all, I think Anita said it best when we were up here a couple of months ago, that says, if the Cowboys are the reason to be able to bring a performance centre and a community centre to Cairns and inspire the next generation, we've done a wonderful job there. From our playing group perspective, they're all assembling back at our High Performance Centre in Townsville in about a fortnight's time. We've kept them updated right up until now, there has been a lot of conjecture, a lot of innuendo around it. The ladies understand that this will give them an opportunity to not only continue to be part of the Cowboys but have their own community in their own world class centre. We'll continue those conversations, and to date it has been received positively by the group.

JOURNALIST: There's been a lot of discussion about having a facility the equal of the men's High Performance Centre in Townsville. From your perspective, I mean, how critical is that to show that you're fully invested, and that the state, federal government, community as a whole is fully invested in elite women's sport being the equal of men.

REIBEL: Absolutely critical. That was always our vision from the start, around ensuring that our NRLW team are given the same opportunity, the same high performance, the same care, the same embracement that we do with our men's team. That men's team has got a 30-year legacy and head start in front of the women's team. Being able to do that within our footprint, within North Queensland, and be embraced by community that has never had a national women's team will be so important to us. Again, with this commitment that allows us now to continue what have been some very fruitful conversations with Cairns Regional Council on our next steps and this, also the federal side of it gives us an opportunity to circle back to say, circle back to our 100-day review application and look at next steps with them as well.

JOURNALIST: Would it be possible to hear from the mayor? Mayor, what does this mean that you've, you've done it - it's going to happen, whatever happens at the weekend?

AMY EDEN, CAIRNS MAYOR: It's a really big day for Cairns, and a lot of preparation and work has happened in the background, and a lot of people have rolled up their sleeves and backed Cairns. And it's an exciting day to have bipartisan support for what is going to be a world class centre that puts Cairns on the global map. Gives us an opportunity, as we lead into the Olympics, to be that missing piece of the puzzle. We've got the airport, we've got the room nights, and now we can be this true sports destination.

JOURNALIST: What does it mean for women's sport in the Far North?

EDEN: It means a lot, and if we, you know, lean into the data from the Cowboys, we know that most players have actually come from this region for the men's team, so we know that we can do that with the right facilities for the women, and that's really, really exciting.

JOURNALIST: What are the next steps, from a council perspective, to actually facilitate this?

EDEN: There are a lot of background checks, obviously, that need to happen. More conversations in the planning. We need full, detailed designs, obviously, to come through. There's a lot of little different bits and pieces. The land tenure is one thing, because we've got a lot of different land tenure here. Just all of that background checks as we get ready for kick-off I guess in 2027.

JOURNALIST: You've got a council meeting this week, did the council pay for you to attend the AICD course in Brisbane recently?

EDEN: We're here today, celebrating what is an absolutely fantastic day. Happy to answer any of those questions that are not football related, not North Queensland Cowboys related, not putting women on the sporting map after this.

JOURNALIST: Sure. So, who approved the AICD course?

EDEN: Are there any other questions or photos related to North Queensland Cowboys?

JOURNALIST: Well, no-

EDEN: -we can do that offline thank you.

JOURNALIST: Well, can we do it now?

EDEN: We want to get some photos and some footage.

JOURNALIST: I'm happy to take the photos after. I mean, it begs the question, do you think you being transparent with the rate payer around council money?

EDEN: Absolutely I am. Council have an expense policy. It's on public record, you can go check it out, and you can see the rationale and the reasons. Obviously, it's a really good course. The Mayor of Gladstone, in fact, sent all of his councillors to Brisbane to do that very course just this year.

JOURNALIST: So how much do it cost the rate payer?

EDEN: I don't know, off the top of my head, Sam.

JOURNALIST: Okay, so the Cairns Post has issued an RTI. Why does it take a Right to Information request to get this information out?

EDEN: I don't deal with operational matters, so I'm sorry I can't answer that.

JOURNALIST: Well, you campaigned on transparency to be fair. Why does it take a Right to Information request to get this information out?

EDEN: Sam, I've just answered that. I don't deal with operational matters and it's really important, if you look up the local government legislation, you'll see that councillors as elected members, we can't delve into operational matters, and they say 'Orange is the New Black', but orange is not good on me, and I don't want to go to gaol.

JOURNALIST: Okay, thank you. I've got a question for Matt. There are claims that Labor's supporters have been vandalising certain election signs, what do you make of that?

SMITH: We condemn the vandalization of the signs into the highest possible order. It has got nothing to do with me or my campaign. In fact, yesterday when we were holding a press conference at the front of TAFE, we saw a bloke come up yell some abuse at me on the way past and then spray paint a sign. It's got nothing to do with anything that we're doing, people do this every year. It's very disappointing, and it shouldn't happen, and we've offered our support to the LNP to help them replace those signs. But yeah, it's like I said, it's got nothing to do with us.

JOURNALIST: Have you noticed any of your own signs being vandalised?

SMITH: Oh yeah, there's, there's a couple of phalluses on some of mine.

JOURNALIST: There's the BFG.

SMITH: I don't mind the BFG one, but yeah, some of the others are a bit rough.

JOURNALIST: Rural doctors are grappling with inadequate resources and are calling for more funding [INDISTINCT]?

SMITH: Absolutely we do, and that's been a part of the process through the 400 CSP places that have been promised by the Anthony Albanese Labor Government, as well as making it easier for doctors to migrate here to deal with that shortage from like-for-like health systems, New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain, etc. What we have learned, though, is that Kevin Hogan from the National Party has said that they will be reducing the DPA, which allows doctors to be sent to regional and rural areas. Up to 1,200 doctors will be removed from regional and remote Australia, that is a very real problem, and that is what the LNP have committed to.

JOURNALIST: I just have a question for the Aged Care Minister. On the radio this morning, the Aged Care Visitors Association, forgive me if I got the name wrong, but they were on saying they volunteer to go and visit people in aged care homes, but they're running short of volunteers, and they're running short of resources. What can you do to help these people or people who, out of the goodness of their heart, visit aged care homes to keep lonely people company?

WELLS: Firstly, we can thank them for the service that they provide to older Australians across Australia, but particularly here in the Far North. Amanda Rishworth as the Minister for Social Services, runs multiple different community visitation and volunteer programs. She's put in place more funding this term to try and drive-up volunteer numbers, because, unfortunately, it's not an instance just specific to aged care visitation. Post-COVID volunteer numbers are down; absolutely everywhere in every sector, and we see that in sport as well. Sports clubs say they struggle to get executives to replenish the boards and to do all that volunteer work that makes our community organisations thrive. I guess we're always looking for ways to help. Amanda Rishworth, as Minister for Social Services, has funded particular streams this term, and obviously if we're privileged enough to be given a second term, we'll look at what else we can do.

Thanks everyone.

 

ENDS