Kingborough needs community and sporting infrastructure that matches its growth and its ambition. The unanimous council approval of the Tasmania Devils AFL High Performance Centre at Twin Ovals in December 2025, alongside the ongoing Jack Jumpers presence and engagement with our municipality, is a strong example of what is possible when leadership is constructive and forward looking.
Our sporting precinct is one of the distinctives of our area. Not every resident is sports mad, but a well planned, well supported sporting precinct delivers enormous benefit to our young people, our families, and the majority of the community who engage with sport at some level. It is also a magnet for investment, visitors, and community pride. The planning decisions made years ago that set the groundwork for what we are now seeing delivered are paying substantial dividends today. That is what foresight in local government looks like, and it is a reminder of the good that this council can do when it gets its decisions right.
But these are more than just sporting facilities. They are anchor tenants that create a genuine opportunity to attract associated businesses and services to Kingborough, particularly in sports medicine, orthopaedic care, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, imaging, and allied health. Elite sport requires elite medical support, and that support creates jobs, rate revenue, and services that benefit the whole community.
A medical services precinct for the south
As Mayor, I will pursue a specific initiative to attract medical, orthopaedic, and allied health businesses to Kingborough on the back of the Devils and Jack Jumpers presence. I will:
- Investigate a dedicated area plan, in a suitable location, to make it easier for medical and allied health providers to establish here than is currently the case
- Identify where that precinct should be located, and how council’s planning framework can support rather than obstruct its development
- Look at how we can expand medical services generally in Kingborough so residents do not have to travel into Hobart for routine and specialist care
- Ensure the Channel and Huon Valley communities benefit, since they currently travel through or past Kingborough to reach hospital and specialist services in the city
Done well, this is a genuine win for the whole region. It brings health services closer to where people live. It draws industry and revenue into our local area. It supports our small businesses. And it positions Kingborough as the natural service centre for the south.
Broader sport and recreation
- Ensure the Devils High Performance Centre delivers local jobs, trades, and economic benefit during construction and operation
- Protect ratepayer interests throughout delivery of the project
- Use this project as a model for attracting further state and national investment in community and sporting infrastructure
- Develop a Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Plan that maps current gaps and future needs across the municipality
- Prioritise accessible and affordable facilities for all age groups, including young people and the ageing population
- Publish a replacement timeline for the mountain bike park, with a site and a date rather than an intention
- Publish the same for the dog park, with a site and a date
- Consult before a decision is taken, rather than announce it afterwards
- Publish the High Performance Centre community access arrangements in plain English, so ratepayers can see what they get to use and when
A pool for Kingborough
A Kingborough pool is the facility residents raise with me more than any other, and it comes up in almost every conversation about sport and recreation. Council is expected to state a position in the coming weeks. I will not pre-empt that process, but I will not duck it either. When Council reports, I will publish a full response with real numbers: what it would cost to build, what it would cost to run each year, and what it would mean for rates. Residents are entitled to that arithmetic before anyone asks for their vote. What residents have described to me is not a grand aquatic centre. It is a modest, practical facility. That is the option I want costed properly.