Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds to seek meeting with AFL CEO Andrew Dillon as possibility of stadium elector poll raised

The Hobart City Council could hold an elector poll on the Macquarie Point stadium, while Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds has been authorised to seek a meeting with AFL CEO Andrew Dillon.

Anna Reynolds, Hobart Lord Mayor. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds will seek a meeting with AFL boss Andrew Dillon to discuss the city council’s concerns regarding the proposed Macquarie Point stadium as the possibility of an elector poll is raised.

At a meeting of the Hobart City Council Planning Authority Committee on Wednesday, elected members voted on a motion to authorise Ms Reynolds and the council’s CEO Michael Stretton to engage with state parliamentarians and outline to them the perceived risks involved with bypassing the Project of State Significance (POSS) process for the stadium.

The committee expressed dissatisfaction with the way the government had handled the stadium project to date, particularly in regard to the planning aspects of the proposal.

Renders showing the relocated Goods Shed at Macquarie Point, to make way for a multipurpose stadium. Picture: Cox Architecture

The government has been urged by the committee to consider Dr Nicholas Gruen’s report on the stadium, as well as the Tasmanian Planning Commission’s (TPC) draft report - which found that the costs of the proposal would be approximately double the estimated benefits - and commit to being fully transparent about the project.

Ms Reynolds has also been asked by the committee to write to the incoming Prime Minister and federal Infrastructure Minister to make sure that Commonwealth funding for Macquarie Point also supports precinct upgrades beyond the stadium development.

The Lord Mayor will endeavour to arrange a meeting with AFL CEO Andrew Dillon to discuss the stadium project.

“I think it’s really important that we do reach out to the AFL. We haven’t met with them officially as a council or if we have it’s been a long time,” Ms Reynolds said.

“It’s just important that somebody is engaging with [the AFL] and taking them through these issues because it is possible that they’re only hearing from people that don’t want to acknowledge some of the genuine challenges that this proposal, and particularly the contractual elements of the proposal like the roof, are causing for the city.”

AFL CEO, Andrew Dillon speaks to media during a visit the Women's and Children's Hospital on April 09, 2025 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

Hobart City Council officers will also now prepare a report detailing the process and timing around a potential elector poll on the stadium if the government should abandon the POSS process.

Ms Reynolds, councillors Ryan Posselt, Gemma Kitsos, Ben Lohberger, John Kelly, Bill Harvey, Zelinda Sherlock, and Mike Dutta all supported the motion put before the committee, while Alderman Marti Zucco and Alderman Louise Bloomfield voted against it.

Alderman Zucco said the council could “jump up and down all we want but it’s not going to change anything”.

“We can go down the track of wasting money on some ridiculous potential elector poll - it’s not going to change the majority of our parliamentarians’ [minds],” he said.

The state government has foreshadowed that it may seek to circumvent the POSS process and instead draft enabling legislation specific to the stadium, which would enable them to avoid having to obtain the planning commission’s approval.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff has criticised the TPC’s draft report, while the Macquarie Point Development Corporation has labelled the findings “incomplete” and “argumentative”, saying the document “lacks balance”.

Under the deal signed with the AFL, the government is required to have all relevant planning approvals in place for the stadium by June 30 and funds allocated by September 30.

The AFL was contacted for comment.

Originally published as Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds to seek meeting with AFL CEO Andrew Dillon as possibility of stadium elector poll raised