Come clean to voters on stadium stance, Greens urge Labor leader Dean Winter

Rosalie Woodruff has called on Dean Winter to clarify Labor’s position on the Hobart stadium after accusing Mr Winter of wavering on a commitment to support fast-tracked legislation.

Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff.

Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff has called on Labor counterpart Dean Winter to clarify his party’s position on delivering a new stadium for Hobart, after accusing the Opposition Leader of wavering on a previous commitment to support fast-tracked legislation through parliament.

With the Tasmanian election campaign moving into full swing on Monday ahead of the 19 July poll, Dr Woodruff claimed Labor was the only party yet to provide Tasmanian voters with clear policy positions about how the stadium should be approved, funded, or even located.

Describing the stadium as the biggest issue to exercise the minds of voters over the next five weeks, Dr Woodruff said Mr Winter was obligated to explain his exact intentions in delivering the billion-dollar sports infrastructure investment.

“We asked the Leader of the Opposition, Dean Winter, what his position on the fast-track approval legislation for the stadium was yesterday, and he didn’t give a straight answer,” Dr Woodruff said.

“He said he was consulting.

“We find it unbelievable that Labor haven’t got a firm position on the stadium in the middle of an election.

“Are they going to support the Liberals’ funding model for the stadium?

“And are they going to support the stadium at Mac Point, or are they preferring somewhere else.

“It’s very disrespectful that Dean Winter is not telling Tasmanians what his position is.

“The Greens have been clear from the very beginning … we don’t support a new stadium.

“The Liberals have been very clear that they will support it.

“We just don’t believe that Labor hasn’t got a position.”

Labor leader Dean Winter. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

After originally declaring the stadium a Project of State Significance — with an assessment overseen by the Tasmanian Planning Commission - the state government last month cited deadline concerns in abandoning the POSS process in favour of so-called enabling legislation through parliament.

Both approval processes ultimately require the majority approval of Tasmania’s House of Assembly, and Legislative Council.

Indicating a potential cooling in support for the fast-track legislation, Mr Winter said on Monday there were ongoing doubts the proposed laws would have passed the state’s upper house, adding that Tasmanians were increasingly frustrated by the ongoing political focus on the infrastructure proposal.

“We support building a stadium, we support getting a team, and we understand the stark reality that there needs to build a stadium in order to get the team,” Mr Winter said,

“And that’s why we’ve been steadfast in our support since I became leader, we said we support the process through parliament to do that.

“We continue to tell Tasmanians that we support building a stadium because we support an AFL team, and we understand that those two things go directly together.

“We need to make sure that we get the team, because it would be a tragedy if we lost it.

“But frankly Tasmanians want us to be focused on the big issues, on health, housing, cost of living. These are things that are so important to the state.”