Two independents are ramping up their campaign to scrap the Macquarie Point stadium deal ahead of Saturday’s state election.
Peter George and Kristie Johnston say they are completely opposed to the project.
“The AFL has made the stadium our problem, Tasmania’s problem,” George said.
Both candidates believe they can shift the financial burden back onto the AFL, arguing Tasmanians still have the power to head back to the negotiating table with the AFL.
“We’re going to make this the AFL’s problem,” George said.
Johnston remains hopeful Labor might yet change its position and return to the anti-stadium stance it took to the last election.
“I will stand with any parliamentarian who stands up for Tasmanians and fights against this stadium,” she said.
“Whether that’s members on the crossbench or whether indeed it’s a major party who has a change of heart.”
The pair have enlisted Tasmanian AFL hall-of-famer Brent Crosswell, who has voiced his concerns over the proposed stadium.
He said the size and location of the project risks ruining one of the “finest cities in the world”.
“The stadium is an aesthetic abomination, and would be an act of civic vandalism,” Crosswell said.
“I’m very sensitive to the beauty and charm of Hobart … I don’t like people chipping away at the edges of its unique aesthetic, with the beautiful colonial Georgian buildings we have here.”
“A stadium is just not meant for that area because it’s huge, and looks like something that has dropped from the moon.”
But both major parties have ruled out any chance of renegotiating the deal. Labor and Liberal leaders have made it clear they will not back down on the stadium project.
“I know we’ve been very clear on this. No,” Labor leader Dean Winter said when asked about potential changes to the AFL agreement.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff warned the independents that scrapping the stadium would have serious consequences for Tasmania’s AFL dream.
“No stadium, no team,” he said. “And the independents know full well that if they kill the stadium, they’ll kill the team and kill the dream of so many young Tasmanians.”
“Not only that, the economic opportunity of investing in a wasteland to bring 4,000 jobs in construction and greater economic wealth and prosperity to Tasmania.”
“They are standing in the way of the stadium for politics alone. For politics alone. They’re not putting people first. No stadium, no team.”
