Jeremy Rockliff: Fears no confidence motion could kill Macquarie Point stadium, Tasmania AFL team
As Tasmania is swept up in a wave of political uncertainty, politicians and leading figures in the footy world hold concerns that the state’s AFL dream could be killed off.
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Doubts are swirling over the future of the proposed Macquarie Point stadium and the Tasmania Devils football club as fears mount that a potential early election could spell the end for the state’s AFL dream.
Amid a heated parliamentary debate on a no-confidence motion against Premier Jeremy Rockliff on Wednesday, politicians and leading figures in the footy world raised concerns that sending Tasmanians to the polls three years early would possibly kill the $945m stadium and the team.
Opposition Leader Dean Winter cited the debt-ridden state budget handed down last week as justification for moving the motion but reiterated Labor’s support for both the stadium and the Devils.
Tasmania’s net debt is expected to reach an eye-watering $10.8bn in four years’ time.
Mr Winter wrote to AFL CEO Andrew Dillon on Wednesday, outlining to the league boss why Labor had no confidence in Mr Rockliff’s leadership.
“Whatever the outcome of today’s motion in parliament, there should be no doubt on ... our party’s commitment to the success of the Devils and a stadium development at Macquarie Point,” he wrote.
Business, Industry and Resources Minister Eric Abetz described the stadium project as transformational for Tasmania and lambasted Mr Winter for seeking to topple the Premier.
“Without a stadium, you cannot, and will not, have a team,” he said.
As the debate raged in the lower house, Tasmania Devils general manager marketing, corporate affairs and social impact, Kath McCann, broke down in tears at a media conference, telling reporters a change in government would at least “cause either a significant delay or a new deal having to be struck” regarding the Devils’ entry into the AFL.
“This is plan A and there is no plan B,” she said.
A stadium at Macquarie Point is a prerequisite of the agreement struck between the state government and the AFL for Tasmania to finally secure a place in the national competition.
Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff heavily criticised the government for tabling legislation to fast-track the stadium in parliament on Tuesday, despite public consultation on the bill not yet having been completed.
“I can’t speak enough at the outrage in the community … to run a corrupted process like that which is specifically designed to cut out the community,” she said.
Dr Woodruff slammed Mr Rockliff for saying the government would spend “not a red cent more” than $375m on the stadium and unsuccessfully sought to add an amendment to Labor’s motion that would have compelled the house to recognise that the Premier’s “budget mismanagement” was “compounded by his plan to fund a new stadium at Macquarie Point”.
Former Liberal strategist Brad Stansfield, who was the architect of several winning state election campaigns, said on Wednesday that the government appeared to have a political “death wish”, particularly regarding its approach to the stadium project.
“We’ve got a s— budget, we’re going to fast-track the stadium that no-one wants with legislation that no-one wants, and then, on top of that, the government … literally introduced that legislation into the parliament, despite the fact consultation is still open,” Mr Stansfield said on the Fontcast podcast.
Independent Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell said the Liberals should take the no-confidence motion as a “warning shot” and “walk away from the stadium”.
“I’ve said that if the Tasmanian Liberals don’t listen to the people of Tasmania, this stadium will cost them more than a billion dollars – it’ll cost them their jobs,” she said.
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Originally published as Jeremy Rockliff: Fears no confidence motion could kill Macquarie Point stadium, Tasmania AFL team
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