First bounce: Hobart AFL stadium finally flagged all clear
MPs have voted to build Hobart’s divisive AFL stadium, but is it really game over?
After years of increasingly bitter debate, a new $1bn-plus AFL stadium will be built near Hobart’s waterfront, with Tasmania’s upper house approving its planning order overnight Thursday.
The 9-5 vote means the roofed 23,000-seat stadium – a key demand of the AFL for Tasmania’s Devils team to enter the national competition – will be constructed at Macquarie Point, funded almost entirely by state and federal taxpayers. It is a major political win for the minority Liberal government headed by Premier Jeremy Rockliff, but the project – which comes amid a state budget and debt crisis – has deeply divided the Tasmanian community and will add to the state’s fiscal challenges.
Mr Rockliff called for unity. “Mac Point has just passed the Tasmanian parliament - our democracy has spoken,” he said. “Let’s unite and move forward together.”
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon also hailed the outcome. “This is an incredibly important outcome for everyone who has worked tirelessly to see a Tasmanian footy club compete on the national stage, and for the hundreds of thousands of Tasmanians who have stood behind the Devils with such passion and pride,” Mr Dillon said.
Opponents, however, immediately vowed to continue to fight the project, which was soundly rejected by the state’s peak planning body on heritage, planning and economic grounds but backed by the two major parties and key upper house independents.
“While parliament can permit the stadium to be built, it cannot legislate reality to be different,” said prominent lawyer Roland Browne, the spokesman for anti-stadium group Our Place – Hobart.
“And at some point, reality will doom this unaffordable stadium. The problems will grow to engulf all Tasmanians. None of our political leaders can say they were not warned. And as these problems grow, so too will the endless financial consequences.
“Because the problems will worsen, the campaign against the stadium will continue.”
However, supporters of the project are rejoicing, arguing the benefits of the stadium and the AFL team justify the costs.
“I see the Tasmania Devils as our moon walk and the stadium, warts and all, as the way to get there,” said Dean Harriss, one of the independent upper house MPs whose vote carried the day.
The government has attacked the Tasmanian Planning Commission’s damning financial assessment of the project, and insisted the project would be a net gain.
“This is an economic boon for the entire state – with a tourism and construction ripple effect to be sent to every corner of Tasmania,” Treasurer Eric Abetz said.
Under a deal with independent MPs, any state expenditure above $875m will require parliamentary approval, with the government suggesting it would look to Canberra or the AFL to meet any future blowouts.
Critics say this latest spending cap – up from an initial $375m “and not one red cent more” – is worthless, given the project could not be left part-built as well as the refusal by the Albanese government and the AFL to increase their contributions.
The project is currently officially costed at $1.13bn, with the federal government allocating $240m for a wider redevelopment of the Macquarie Point site and the AFL $15m for the stadium.
A TPC report in September found the project would cost the state $1.8bn in debt and interest, and return less than 50 cents for each dollar spent.
Mr Rockliff’s deal with the AFL requires the stadium to be 50 per cent complete by October 2027, and ready to host matches in 2029, a year after the Devils enter the competition.
The contract stipulates Tasmanian taxpayers foot the bill for all cost overruns, and includes multimillion-dollar annual payments to the AFL for missing construction deadlines.
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