Independent MPs have urged the AFL to renegotiate its deal with Tasmania after the state’s Planning Commission (TPC) delivered a scathing rejection of the proposed Macquarie Point stadium.
Federal MP Andrew Wilkie said the TPC report was proof the now billion-dollar project should be abandoned.
“Only a fool of a government, only a fool of an opposition would talk about going ahead with this,” he said.
“And the fact that the premier has already come out and dismissed the TPC as not knowing what they’re talking about, that is just breathtaking arrogance.”
The commission found the stadium would be too big, too costly and too damaging for the waterfront site. It set out no conditions under which the project could proceed.
Clark MP Kristie Johnston said the economic analysis was particularly damning.
“Tasmanians can’t afford it. The TPC have been very clear about this,” she said.
The commission based its assessment on government costings of about $1 billion, though critics warn the real price could hit $2 billion.
It also calculated borrowing costs alone at $1.8 billion over ten years.
The MPs also took aim at Labor leader Josh Willie for backing the project despite the findings. Labor will speak on the report later this afternoon.
“Labor are an opposition missing in action and they are no more than Liberal light,” Johnston said.
The stadium is a central requirement of Tasmania’s AFL licence, with Franklin independent Peter George saying the deal should be revisited.
“The idea that somehow you have to have a stadium with a roof at Macquarie Point – which is the wrong place and the wrong cost – just to get a team is absolute nonsense,” he said.
“We should have gone back to the AFL right from the word go and said Tasmania deserves a team, Tasmania’s got the right places for our team to play.”
George pointed to existing facilities, including the upgraded Launceston stadium and Bellerive Oval across the River Derwent.
“This is just madness that a state of a bit over half a million people would have three AFL stadiums,” Wilkie added.
Wilkie said he would contact the Prime Minister’s office to ensure the $240 million in federal funding promised for Macquarie Point goes into public spaces and not the stadium.
“Not one cent of that Commonwealth money must go into building a stadium,” he said.
“It must go into building the sorts of things that a previous public consultation process found that the public wanted.”
The crossbench called on the upper house to block any stadium legislation if it passes the lower house.
