{"id":326425,"date":"2025-12-04T04:31:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T04:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326425\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T04:31:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T04:31:15","slug":"tasmanian-sports-minister-censured-over-withdrawn-football-club-grant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326425\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasmanian sports minister censured over withdrawn football club grant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tasmania\u2019s lower house has censured Sports Minister Nick Duigan after he walked back a $100,000 grant<\/a> earmarked for a community football club because its president appeared in a photo with Labor.<\/p>\n

The motion, moved by Labor leader Josh Willie, passed 19-14 on Thursday with support from Labor, the Greens and crossbench independents.<\/p>\n

The censure centres on a promised contribution to the North Launceston Football Club, which has been left without a home after its clubrooms at UTAS Stadium were demolished as part of a $130 million upgrade.<\/p>\n

A draft letter sent to club president Adrian Hall in July pledged $100,000 for planning work on a new facility.<\/p>\n

\"\"The picture of former Labor leader Dean Winter with North Launceston Football Club president Adrian Hall during the election campaign. Image \/ The Examiner<\/p>\n

But Duigan admitted during estimates hearings last month that he chose not to sign the letter because Hall had \u201cstood next to\u201d then-Labor leader Dean Winter during the campaign.<\/p>\n

Speaking in parliament today prior to the motion, Duigan conceded his comments were unacceptable and apologised.<\/p>\n

\"\"Labor leader Josh Willie moved the censure motion. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

Labor\u2019s Josh Willie said the apology had come too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minister did not try and mop this up a couple of weeks ago. He is only trying to do it now because he is facing a consequence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want people\u2019s behaviour to change, there have to be consequences sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have carefully crafted this to make sure that the minister does get a second chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Premier Jeremy Rockliff defended his minister, saying Duigan had \u201caccepted responsibility\u201d and \u201capologised, as one should\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were discussions during the election campaign on how best we could ensure the club secures a home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no agreement. There was a draft letter, an unsigned draft letter, and the minister did not make a funding commitment. It was a draft election commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The premier said Duigan is \u201ccontinuing to work collaboratively and closely with the club to secure a good outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"The censure motion passed 19-14 with support from the Greens and independents. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

Independent MP Peter George said the minister\u2019s actions since had been insufficient.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe he\u2019s genuinely remorseful, I do believe he is embarrassed, but remorse, however sincere, does not dissolve accountability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis parliament bears a very, very strong responsibility to uphold standards of integrity and to legislate eventually to deter conduct of this kind in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The motion accused Duigan of a \u201cgross misuse of power\u201d and called on the government to reinstate the funding.<\/p>\n

Greens MP Vica Bayley said the incident highlighted the broader problem of pork-barrelling during election campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cOffering a letter, dangling that in front of a club and then effectively withdrawing it because a club stood next to the competition in an electoral sense is very, very poor practice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The 103-year-old club remains in temporary accommodation with no confirmed long-term home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tasmania\u2019s lower house has censured Sports Minister Nick Duigan after he walked back a $100,000 grant earmarked for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-326425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}