Senator the Hon. George Brandis S.C.

Minister for the Arts and Sport

Radio Interview Transcript

Brisbane ABC 612 – Madonna King

Monday, 2 July 2007

Subjects: Ballymore, Australian Rugby Union.

KING:

What a weekend for rugby union fans, with the announcement that the Wallabies will be based at Ballimore, topped off by a win over the All Blacks. Does it get any better?

So what does this mean for Ballimore, for Brisbane, and for rugby union in Queensland?

Senator George Brandis is the Minister for Sport, good morning, Senator.

BRANDIS:

Good morning, Madonna.

KING:

Why was Ballimore chosen as the home of the Wallabies?

BRANDIS:

Well, the ARU came to the government with a proposal to develop an Australian National Rugby Academy, and the logical place to put it was Ballimore. Ballimore, as you know, has a lot of land, much of it undeveloped, so there was a tremendous spare capacity in Ballimore, and Madonna, I'm sure you'd agree with me, as we're both Queenslanders, is that the natural home of rugby union in Australia is Brisbane anyway.

KING:

Well the whole of Ballimore precinct will be redeveloped, what changes can we expect to see?

BRANDIS:

Well look, there are many changes, let me run you through the main ones. They will be centred around a world class training facility, not just for the Wallabies, though the Wallabies will be obviously the principle team to be the beneficiaries of the Academy, but also more junior rugby teams, and the facilities will be made available to other sports as well. There'll be accommodation for the players, there'll be a world class sports medicine centre, there'll be state-of-the-art training facilities, a new state-of-the-art gym, and there'll be some administrative facilities as well, and social and recreational facilities as part of the package.

KING:

Will the Queensland Reds go back to playing their games at Ballimore?

BRANDIS:

Well, that's a matter for them to determine, I mean we've just set out the plan, as you know launched by the Prime Minister at Ballimore on Saturday morning. But I think there's no doubt that Ballimore will be revived as not only the centre of rugby union in Queensland, which of course it already is, but as the centre of rugby union in Australia.

KING:

Are Sydney and Melbourne cranky about the decision?

BRANDIS:

Well, it was a recommendation that came from the ARU, it was driven I should say by the QRU, and I want to give credit to Mr Peter Lewis, the chairman of the QRU, but this was a recommendation to the government from the ARU itself on which all of the state rugby authorities are represented.

KING:

When will the facilities be up and running?

BRANDIS:

Look, we're only at the planning stage now, I imagine a project as ambitious as this is going to take a couple of years before we see it opened.

KING:

Senator George Brandis, thank you.

BRANDIS:

Thank you, Madonna.

KING:

Senator George Brandis is the Minister for Arts and Sport, and I'd love to hear from rugby union fans this morning, is Ballimore the right home for the Wallabies, will you be heading over to Herston more often, to catch games now?

ENDS