Excitement has gripped Tasmania's construction industry following the release of the Macquarie Point Stadium concept designs. But a significantly bolstered workforce will be needed to complete the project, while the stadium will also need to defy recent history to avoid a budget blowout.
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00:00The what has been officially unveiled, now attention turns to the how.
00:06A wooden world first for Macquarie Point, the pressure on to deliver on a tight budget
00:12by 2029.
00:13This is the government's promises, they've signed the AFL agreement, they've signed up
00:18to the timelines, it's important that it's delivered on so that we get the AFL teams
00:22we deserve.
00:23Master builders Tasmania and the property council thrilled following Sunday's stadium
00:28sneak peek.
00:30What Tasmania really needs at the moment is some sort of bold thinking and bold vision.
00:35What we've seen released so far is exactly that.
00:38But both concede there's no guarantee the Hobart Stadium will come in on budget.
00:43It is likely I believe that we may see the build going beyond what the current scope
00:49is.
00:50The stadium will need to buck a trend of recent budget blowouts for major projects with Devonport
00:56Ferry berths, the Bridgewater Bridge and the relocation of the Macquarie Point Wastewater
01:00Treatment Plant all growing in price.
01:04Other privately backed projects like a planned hospital in Newtown have been scrapped entirely.
01:09The government has long insisted that if there are overruns, they'll be covered by private
01:14backers.
01:15$375 million is what we're committed to, to invest in the Macquarie Point Stadium.
01:21And that's what I've said, not a red cent more.
01:24Workers on the ground say the project is desperately needed.
01:28It definitely looks like a job and a half, but at the same time, we need more than a
01:32job and a half down here.
01:34Tasmanians struggle to get these bigger projects.
01:37Hayley Whitehead's involvement could be two-fold.
01:40She's an apprentice plumber and is eyeing a place in Tasmania's AFLW team.
01:44It's not many times you get to say I built that, but then you go and play on it as well,
01:49so that would be pretty cool I reckon.
01:51But with Tasmania's construction workforce undersized for a job of the stadium's scale,
01:57a tradie army will need to be recruited.
02:00The earlier, the better.
02:01We can make sure that our pathways programs are correct, we can make sure that we look
02:04at things like skilled migration, we can look at mature age apprenticeships.
02:09Plenty of work to do in years to come, on and off the field.