Cook said he hadn’t had a “direct conversation” with the Albanese government about funding a new stadium, but pointed out the hundreds of millions of dollars the federal government had injected into other sporting projects around the country.
www.watoday.com.au
Roger Cook wants Albanese’s help with NRL stadium
By
Hamish Hastie
March 31, 2025 — 3.48pm
Western Australian Premier Roger Cook wants the Commonwealth to chip in for a stadium in its bid to establish an NRL team in the state.
Cook said he hadn’t had a “direct conversation” with the Albanese government about that, but pointed out the hundreds of millions in funding the federal government had injected into other sporting projects around the country.
“I do note the sizable contribution towards the new stadium in Hobart, and I think just over the weekend, they made an announcement with regards to a contribution to the [Melbourne] Storm in Victoria,” he said.
“So if we were in a position to be able to negotiate an NRL franchise in WA, we welcome any Commonwealth contribution to that infrastructure.
“We very much look forward to continuing those conversations with the NRL and if the Commonwealth Government want to drop a lazy $430 million on a new stadium in Perth, they’ll be very welcome to do so, but I’m not sure they necessarily would.
“We just need to first of all have the conversation to see what the opportunity for an NRL franchise in WA is.”
Cook supports the NRL’s push to move the Western Bears from Sydney to WA, but negotiations paused over the caretaker period before the March 8 state election.
Those talks have now resumed, but Cook refuses to reveal what cost he is willing to pay to help establish the team here through associated infrastructure.
He has continually said his government would not agree to any deal unless it had value for taxpayers.
“I personally haven’t [had conversations with the Albanese government], but obviously we would love to see the federal government bring dollars to WA for a future stadium,” he said.
“However, we don’t know what the costs are. We don’t know what the dimensions of that conversation are.”
The Federal Government has agreed to spend $600 million over 10 years to help establish a Papua New Guinea team to enter the competition in 2028.
Federal Labor also committed $10 million to build a mini rectangular stadium in the City of Casey in Victoria which would give the Storm an alternate stadium to host games.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Premier appeared alongside each other at an earlier press conference on Monday, where the Prime Minister deferred a question over the Western Bears to Cook.
WA Sport Minister Rita Saffioti has been tasked with leading negotiations with the NRL over the new team but on Monday she revealed she was working on it with Cook.
She is also Transport Minister and was left disappointed when federal funding for the Reid Highway and Erindale Road intersection was nowhere to be found in last week’s budget.
When asked whether she would like to see federal funding for that project or an NRL team she said she would prefer “any money from the Commonwealth.”
She said she was confident $640 million pledged in a letter to her government for transport projects from 2029 could be brought forward to get the $450 million interchange built.
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