Labor says Mac Point stadium could be delayed for years
The state’s three main political parties have traded blows over the Macquarie Point stadium plan. See inside the ongoing dispute.
Tasmania
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Remediation work at Macquarie Point could have five years to go, putting the timeline for an AFL stadium there in doubt, the opposition says.
Labor’s Dean Winter pointed to two government tenders for remediation and Archaeological investigation of the site — one of which has a five years term.
“During a health housing and cost of living crisis, the government’s priority is to build a $750m stadium in Hobart, yet another stadium for a city that already has a perfectly good stadium,” he said.
“Here at Macquarie Point there has been almost a decade now of a project that continues to be delayed.
“Eighty million dollars has gone into the site and yet, as you can see, there’s almost nothing here.
“The government is tearing up existing plans for housing, for a truth and reconciliation park — millions of dollars of investment that they had planned to deliver in order to build a stadium.
“Yet the government’s own tender documents show that they could be continuing to remediate this site for another five years, putting the Premier’s plans to build a stadium here in serious jeopardy.
“We’re concerned about this project’s feasibility and the fact that we’re concerned that pouring $700 million into this site at a time where Tasmanians are struggling with the cost of living with that health system that isn’t working for them.”
Minister for State Development, Construction and Housing Guy Barnett rejected Mr Winter’s claims.
“Dean Winter is wrong, again,” he said. The majority of the site has been remediated.”
“While there are some remediation works still required, they only relate to the south-west and south-east corners of Macquarie Point, which will not impact on development of the broader site.
“Sadly, it seems Mr Winter simply cannot resist playing cheap, misleading politics, in order to grab some media headlines.”
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said Labor could use its influence in Canberra to stop the stadium if it wanted to try.
“We know that Labor has made a series of public statements about not supporting a stadium at Macquarie Point and good on them for doing that,” she said.
“But Labor can save Tasmania from that stadium by lobbying the prime minister — our Labor Prime Minister — Anthony Albanese and we’d very much like to see them do that.
“If Labor is serious about not making the state pay out for another stadium then they need to get on the phone or get on the plane to Canberra and talk to the prime minister, who ultimately will be part of a decision about whether or not to fund this massive stadium at Macquarie Point.”
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Originally published as Labor says Mac Point stadium could be delayed for years
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