Nationals oppose Liberals’ Hobart AFL stadium to win Tasmania seats, open to ex-JLN MPs

The Nationals believe they can ‘take Tassie by storm’ at the state election and are controversially joining the Greens in opposing a key Liberal pet project.

Jeremy Rockliff in Launceston on Thursday in a picture posted on Facebook.

The Nationals – seeking to “take Tasmania by storm” at the state election – have joined the Greens in vowing to kill Hobart’s “irresponsible” Macquarie Point AFL stadium.

Seeking to re-establish the party in the decentralised island state, after six years without an elected representative, the Nat­ionals on Thursday announced they would stand candidates in three of the five multi-member electorates.

The Nationals’ vow to ditch the $1bn stadium – championed by the minority Liberal government – gives anti-stadium voters in those seats an alternative to the Greens, with Labor and the Liberals standing by the project.

Nationals Senate leader Brid­get McKenzie, in Tasmania to kickstart her party’s campaign, ­denied the stadium stance was disloyal to her national Coalition partner.

“We are not a faction of the Australian Liberal Party,” Senator McKenzie told The Australian.

Tasmanian Nationals declare they are open for nominations for candidates to run in the 2025 state election. From left, campaign spokesman Carl Cooper, senator Bridget McKenzie and Tasmanian Nationals chair Pip Allwright. Picture: Patrick Gee

She said voters in Bass, Braddon and Lyons who did not want the stadium but did not want to vote for the Greens or independents now had another, less de­stabilising option.

“We are not a party of protest like the Greens, like other minor parties … we are a party of government and have a very responsible approach to the work of representation, to fiscal respon­sibility,” she said.

“When it comes to the stadia, the policy developed by the Tasmanian Nationals is because they care about the state of the state budget and the (debt-related) intergeneration issues.

“You’ve got a $1bn project proposal which the state of the state budget would indicate would be an irresponsible decision at this time. The Tasmanian Nationals 100 per cent support an AFL team but they do not support a Macquarie Point stadium. That is a clear point of ­difference.”

An artist’s rendering of the proposed Macquarie Point stadium in Hobart. Picture: Mac Point Development Corporation

The party has called for candidate nominations and is not ruling out embracing former Jacqui Lambie Network sitting MPs Andrew Jenner, Rebekah Pentland and Miriam Beswick.

“The National Party in Tasmania welcomes everyone to join and nominations are open,” Senator McKenzie said, adding the ex-JLN MPs would have to follow the party’s normal process: “Be part of this political movement that we hope is going to take Tasmania by storm.”

Her party had a history in Tasmania dating back to 1920 when William McWilliams became the first leader of the Federal Country Party. Its last Tasmanian elected representative was former senator Steve Martin, who lost his seat in 2019.

“This is a state we’ve always felt is a natural fit for the National Party – key industries like ag, fishing, forestry and mining are our bread and butter,” Senator McKenzie said.

The Greens, hoping to build on their five seats in the 35-seat Assembly, are also focusing their campaign on the stadium, a condition of the Tasmania Devils’ entry to the AFL. “This election is an opportunity to put a stop to it once and for all,” said Greens leader, Rosalie Woodruff.

With Labor and Liberal both backing the stadium and a recent opinion poll showing 57 per cent of Tasmanians oppose its fast-track through parliament, the issue could send voters into the arms of independents and minor parties.

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Peter George, an anti-salmon candidate who gave Labor a scare in the seat of Franklin in the federal election and is standing for the mirror state seat, added his voice in opposition to the stadium.

Tasmania, going to the polls on July 19 for the second time in 16 months because of a no-confidence motion in Premier Jeremy Rockliff, has five electorates each returning seven MPs.