Thursday, 2 April 2026

 David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:02): It is both football season and election season, so pretty soon I expect to see politicians wearing scarves and pledging our money to the AFL or most likely new facilities for AFLW. Let us put aside for the moment the murky issue of former Labor and CFMEU staff working for the AFL. The AFL is a rich part of life in Victoria, but it is also just plain rich. Accepting corporate welfare is embarrassing, and it should be beneath them. The AFL has revenue of more than $1 billion a year. 58 AFL players earn more than a million dollars a year, and the average salary of AFL players is $500,000. If AFL players pledged just 10 per cent of their pay to improve facilities, this would raise $32 million in a single year. If they decided to forgo an end-of-year trip to Las Vegas, they could raise a lot more. Or if that is all too hard, AFL clubs could raise tens of millions simply by increasing membership fees for their 1.3 million members by 10 per cent, typically about $20 on a $200 membership. Many people in Dandenong, Springvale and Frankston cannot afford groceries. Forcing poor people to subsidise the rich for the sake of a politician’s photo opportunity is a disgrace. The Libertarian Party opposes all forms of corporate welfare, and we urge the AFL to show some dignity and stop accepting taxpayer money.