Tasmania's planning commission has delivered a scathing report on the state government's controversial plan to build a stadium at Macquarie Point. The report which found costs had been underplayed and benefits overstated has alarmed the public and some members of parliament. But it hasn't shaken the government or the AFL both remain confident the stadium will be delivered.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00No stadium, no team, no budging.
00:06It's really clear the conditional licence is a 23,000 seat roof stadium at Macquarie
00:11Point.
00:12A scathing report from the Tasmanian Planning Commission has found the cost benefits of
00:16a stadium at Hobart's Macquarie Point are far below what's being spruced and there would
00:21be size and access issues with the site.
00:24The AFL isn't shifting.
00:27It is complex and it's difficult but we're really confident that the planning will play
00:32out the way it is and we'll end up with a stadium.
00:35The Tasmanian Government also not budging.
00:38We are working through the issues.
00:41We are in a process.
00:42The timelines are challenging.
00:46One indisputable fact is if this stadium is not built there will be no team.
00:54But non-government MPs don't share the Premier's optimism, peppering him with questions about
00:59his pet project.
01:00How have you stuffed this up so badly?
01:03In my opinion your government will send the state broke if you continue down this line.
01:08Surely you can now see that the stadium is a terrible deal for Tasmania.
01:13The stadium is being assessed under a Project of State Significance process that gives parliamentarians
01:19the final say after a series of public hearings.
01:22The Greens say they're concerned the government could walk away from it.
01:26We are deeply concerned that the Premier is looking at pulling the pin on what is already
01:33a substandard planning process, the POS, and bringing in enabling legislation.
01:38We are in the Project of State Significance process as we speak.
01:43We are continuing in that process and the parliament at the end of the day will have
01:48it's say.
01:49The government needs Labor's vote for the stadium to pass the lower house.
01:54Despite being critical of the stadium in parliament, the opposition leader issued a statement saying
01:59he wants to see it built, but stopped short of guaranteeing parliamentary support.
02:05Tasmanian Labor supports building a stadium.
02:08We support it and we have given all the political support that this Premier needs, but I can't
02:12build it for him.
02:13The Labor leader didn't front the cameras, leaving questions about whether there are
02:18limits to that support and why the draft report hasn't changed his stadium position unanswered.