Wooley: Funding for the proposed Hobart AFL stadium is fast becoming a spectator sport

Whether you are for or against a new stadium at Macq Point, Tasmanians should be wary that promises made by previous administrations can’t always be relied upon, says Charles Wooley

The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who according to multiple sources, has been spooked by Gabba Olympics rebuild blowout. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

WHETHER you are in favour of the Colosseum on the Derwent or against it, you should keep an eye on what’s happening in Brisbane. It might happen here.

Last month Albo walked away from the $2.7bn rebuild of Brisbane’s Gabba stadium for the 2032 Olympics. The federal government suddenly got cold feet when preliminary costings projected a

170 per cent cost blowout.

Billions just roll off the tongue in these inflationary times. The reality check in Brisbane was to look at all the zeros: 2,700,000,000 and counting.

It was a problem Albo inherited from ScoMo, who’d promised to split the Brisbane Games’ cost 50-50 with Canberra. It was possibly the biggest sports rort in Australian history, but you can’t say that because hosting the Olympics in Australia is surely above politics and, indeed, a sacred national duty.

Surprisingly, now behaving like capitalists rather than socialists, the federal Labor government has been looking at flogging off the development rights to private enterprise. A couple of huge entertainment consortiums are reportedly vying for the job.

That is the one simple reason I draw your attention to this interesting development. Perhaps I missed it, but did you hear any of the rent-seekers and business lobby groups campaigning for the Colosseum on the Derwent ever suggest investing their own money in at least some of the up-front capital costs?

The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who according to multiple sources, has been spooked by Gabba Olympics rebuild blowout. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

No, of course you didn’t.

They want to build the thing with YOUR money.

You might wonder, as the Colosseum is assumed to be such a gold mine, why haven’t the hospitality sector and the building industry, among others, punted on such a sure bet? But building the Colosseum is such a big number it’s unlikely any local consortium would think of even part-funding it so long as government is prepared to socialise all the costs.

That is, after all, the Tasmanian way. Governments of both persuasions throw your money at all kinds of developments, talk them up big and no matter how badly some turn out, after the next election everything is forgotten.

And you, still stuck in traffic jams and hospital queues, get stiffed with the bill.

Queensland’s problem is much like Tasmania’s. The AFL has our government by the throat and is calling the shots, just as the International Olympic Committee can do with the Brisbane Games.

The Queensland government can no more say “We don’t want the games at any price” than Tasmania can say “We don’t want a footy team at any price.”

Peter Gutwein had the fortitude to challenge the AFL (a bit), but as I said, everything is soon forgotten.

Gillon McLachlan calls the shots now and appears to be the de facto premier of Tasmania, and by implication minister for infrastructure and transport, health minister and treasurer.

So talented, it’s no wonder the AFL is slow to find his replacement.

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe has come under fire for having a private lunch with bankers from investment firm Barrenjoey. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

MEANWHILE, I have been starting to feel sorry for Australia’s most unpopular banker, the Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe. In private he might well be kind to children and animals, but in public he gives the appearance of being an aloof, remote figure, oddly unaware of the pain he inflicts.

There is a growing feeling among economic commentators that there must be an alternative to the present strategy of punishing home buyers. Why not keep interest rates low, and instead increase income tax? It is suggested this would have the same deflationary effect, but the money could go to a higher national purpose. Like paying for those nuclear subs.

As it now is, increasing interest rates has the effect of greatly increasing the amount of money Australians are paying the banks, which has been reflected in the massive profits reported. And as the Australia Institute and the ACTU have pointed out, massive company profits are a major driver of inflation. Wages are not moving.

Back in February, Dr Lowe copped a lot of flak when he decided not to speak at the National Press Club after a meeting of the RBA board. Instead, he went to lunch.

It turned out to be a posh private lunch hosted by the investment bank Barrenjoey. The very name is redolent of Sydney’s North Shore beach mansions and reinforces the impression that while mortgage-paying Australians were eating Vegemite sangers for lunch, Phil was on the wagyu and lobster and slurping Penfolds with the nation’s richest. At least that was how it looked in the media.

In the unlikely event that lunch was watercress sandwiches and mineral water, it wouldn’t have made any difference. The damage was done. The PR lesson was “Never stand up the National Press Club on a lunch date.”

This week it was reported that some time back Phil took advantage of a concessional mortgage rate available to RBA staff, pegged at half the Commonwealth Bank of Australia rate. To be fair to the Guv, the scheme, which would not pass the pub test (unless the beer was free), was abolished years ago. But that didn’t stop the news media quoting a 1997 real estate listing for Dr Lowe’s five-bedroom house in Randwick as “a freestanding home of Victorian vintage with all the features you’ve been dying to find: soaring ceilings, marble fireplaces, polished wide beamed timber floors”.

Tasmanian-born cricket star Ricky Ponting, right, was in the news this week after it was reported that he’d paid $20m for a mansion in Toorak. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

FOR NOW AT LEAST, Phil is in for a break. His pocket mansion has been overshadowed this week by a real mansion, which increasingly envious reports say that Ricky Ponting has bought for $20m in Toorak.

Phil Lowe’s job pays a shade over a million a year. Ricky is variously said to be worth $70m to $100m.

But when I googled myself on the websites that claim to divulge such information, I found I was worth somewhere between $16m and $19m.

I wish.

The only thing Ricky Ponting and I have remotely in common was Brooks High School in Launceston. Let’s just say that our old alma mater (no, they didn’t teach Latin there) was not considered at all prestigious.

Ricky grew up in Mowbray, which he once described as a disadvantaged suburb of Launceston.

Reading that I wanted to say, “Ricky, mate, come off it. I grew up in Newnham. We dreamed of moving to Mowbray.”

Banker, cricketer or journalist, the lesson is you can never escape your past. Newnham and Mowbray are only a few miles apart. Hardly enough social distance to explain why that doyen of accurate reporting, the internet, gives Ricky from Mowbray a worth of $90m and your columnist from Newnham a mere $16m.

There’s a really important lesson here. Never, never, never believe everything you read. Even in this column. Believe me.

Charles Wooley is a Tasmanian journalist and deputy mayor of Sorell Council.