An independent report has raised serious questions about a proposed stadium near Hobart’s waterfront. The venue is a key condition of Tasmania getting its own AFL team. The report says the process has been flawed, with costs underestimated and benefits over-stated.
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00:00This report came about as part of an agreement between the Jackie Lambie Network and the
00:06government for their support in minority government.
00:09It was completed by economist Nicholas Gruen, and it's fair to say it's pretty damning of
00:14almost every aspect of the proposed Macquarie Point Stadium.
00:18It found that there's about a $300 million underestimate, that the government would need
00:22to find about $1 billion in unspecified financing, and that some kinds of creative accounting
00:29have been used by the government to hide some of the costs.
00:32The cost-benefit analysis was found to be optimistic, and those figures were already
00:37somewhat dire to begin with.
00:39He also found the site selection process was extremely flawed, and that it might be in
00:43the government's best interest to open it up to other potential sites then.
00:48The government is meant to get final approvals for the stadium by mid this year, and it has
00:53to pass both Houses of Parliament.
00:55The Labor opposition is supportive of a stadium proposal, could be any stadium proposal, but
01:00even with their support, they still need one or two extra independents or crossbenchers
01:05to support it as well, so it faces a difficult time actually getting approval to begin with.
01:10Nicholas Gruen, in his report, tried to address some of the divisiveness around the stadium.
01:16His recommendations largely centred on extending the timeframes, which are considered quite
01:22tight, and potentially allowing the Tasmania team to play at existing stadiums like Bella
01:27Reeve Oval in Hobart and Utah Stadium in Launceston for about five to seven years.
01:33The plan at the moment is for them to only play there for one year, so that would be
01:37a significant extension of time for the stadium to be completed, but the AFL are notoriously
01:43tough negotiators, particularly when it comes to Tasmania, it seems, and the government
01:48doesn't seem to have much appetite to go back to the bargaining table with the AFL.