The Tasmanian Government has made the dramatic move to bypass the state’s planning system in an effort to have the proposed roofed Macquarie Point Stadium approved after an interim report threw doubt on the project’s costs.
The decision is sure to cause ire among opponents of the stadium, which is essential to the state’s dream of fielding the Tassie Devils in the AFL.
Supplied images project what the proposed AFL stadium at Macquarie Point in Hobart, Tasmania, will look like.
Under the bespoke legislation, Parliament will still have to approve the stadium, but they will not have to wait for the Tasmanian Planning Commission’s final report on what had been declared a Project of State Significance.
The latest report, delivered two weeks ago, suggested the stadium faced cost blowouts and ongoing costs for Tasmanians, although advocates for the stadium – who asked to remain anonymous due to the political nature of the project – argued the report went beyond its scope.
In a presentation to AFL club chiefs on Friday in Adelaide, Tassie Devils chief executive officer Brendon Gale said that vote was expected in September.
However, the latest move by Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff could see a vote held by the middle of the year.
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Before this move, the stadium had bipartisan support and only needed the support of two independents in the state’s upper house to be approved.
Rockcliff confirmed in a statement that the government would introduce enabling legislation to the state’s parliament to fast track approvals for the Macquarie Point Urban Renewal Project.
“It has become clear over the last week that the current process is undermining certainty and confidence in the future of the precinct and the Tasmania Devils AFL club, impacting construction, recruitment and economic prospects,” the premier said.
“It’s time we got on building it.”
The AFL has been uncompromising on its demand for a stadium to be built after reaching agreement with the state government that it would be built at Macquarie Point in Hobart.
Eric Abetz, the minister responsible for the project, said the government would argue Dr Nicholas Gruen’s report has been “tainted by an apprehension of bias”. The ABC revealed last week Dr Gruen met with anti-stadium advocates before being appointed to conduct the report.
There is little doubt the team will be launched in 2028 before the stadium is ready, but the Tassie Devils are likely to play the majority of their early games at UTAS Stadium, which has been a fortress for Hawthorn in the past two decades.
Gale walked club CEOs through the progress the Tassie Devils have made since the AFL issued a conditional licence in May 2023.
He told them there had been significant Auskick growth in the state already, with registrations climbing by close to 40 per cent in each of the past two years.
A CEO in the room, who asked to remain anonymous due to the confidential nature of the meeting, said they were told 12 per cent of the 200,000-plus foundation members had never followed or been a member of a club.
Tasmania remains in the process of searching for a list manager and football department head as they need to build a list for a team to play in the VFL in 2026.
Gale also reassured the room that the campaign to build a stadium was always going to face political hurdles, but said it would be built along with the training and administration centre at Kingborough, which the club hopes to finish by the end of 2027.
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