The state government needs to take City of Hobart-owned land as part of its $945m Macquarie Point Stadium project

The state government needs council land for its $945m Macquarie Point Stadium project and has the power to make it a compulsory acquisition. Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds will fight for a fair deal for Hobart ratepayers.

Macquarie Point Stadium at night. Picture supplied

The state government is on a collision course with the Hobart City Council over the acquisition of land essential to completing the construction of its $945m Macquarie Point Stadium by December 2030 at the latest.

The City of Hobart is a firm objector of the stadium project based mainly on its location at Macquarie Point, as well as numerous other concerns, which were listed in the government’s Macquarie Point Multipurpose Stadium - Enabling Legislation Draft Report, released on Tuesday.

The legislation report flagged on page 21 that the government needed HCC land for the stadium’s peripheral requirements.

It says: “The Bill will ensure that the Northern Access Road can be built by acquiring land that is in the alignment between the Macquarie Point precinct and McVilly Drive.

“The Northern Access Road will secure access to the stadium, the port, the Macquarie Point Precinct and the Cenotaph and Regatta Ground. The Northern Access Road will incorporate the bus plaza.”

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

Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said if the government expected to take ownership of the land, it must stump up a fair commercial price.

“They can do a compulsory acquisition, which is what they are planning to do apparently,” Ms Reynolds said.

“We would have to be compensated for that land through the compulsory acquisition.

“The state government has done this with the Southern Outlet, so it is generally based on commercial valuation and there is meant to be a proper process so we would expect the proper process to take place.”

New renders of the proposed Macquarie Point stadium, home of the Tasmanian Devils.

Ms Reynolds, on behalf of HCC rate payers, will advocate strongly for appropriate compensation.

“The commercial valuation may not be that generous, even though I would say that it’s waterfront land with all of its potential factored in,” she said.

“They also need the whole of Evans St and the whole of McVilly Drive.

“I would imagine there would be a process of appeal if you got a really unfair offer, but we would be assuming it will be a fair offer.”

The HCC will submit its objections to the stadium build in two weeks, after workshopping its submission contents on Wednesday next week.

Macquarie Point Stadium precinct footprint. Picture supplied

Rate payers wanting to submit their opposition should do so before then, to be included in discussions. Private submissions can be sent to [e-mail]

The council’s current objections were listed in the legislation report.

They included the potential negative impacts of the project outweighing the positives, as well as the impact on Hobart’s heritage, environmental concerns raised by the EPA, insufficient transport infrastructure, and the risk of creating an “inactive, underutilised precinct in a location earmarked for more diverse urban renewal under previous plans”.

“We will reiterate our point – the challenges of the project and we may revised down our estimates of the economic benefits based on the fact that there are questions about the cricket,” Ms Reynolds said.

Originally published as The state government needs to take City of Hobart-owned land as part of its $945m Macquarie Point Stadium project