Independent senator Jacqui Lambie is urging crossbench MLCs in Tasmania’s upper house to block the Macquarie Point stadium.
Her call comes after last week’s release of a Tasmanian Planning Commission report, which raised several concerns about the proposed Hobart waterfront development.
The commission recommended the stadium not be built – advice Premier Jeremy Rockliff has rejected, insisting the project will go ahead.
“Thank God we have some independent MPs in the Tasmanian upper house,” Lambie told supporters in an email.
“I hope they can find the courage that Premier Rockliff lacks.”
“Let’s hope they can stop this and do what all elected representatives are supposed to do – make decisions in the best interests of Tasmanians.”
Lambie criticised the premier for backing the project, a condition tied to Tasmania keeping the AFL licence for the Devils.
She said the report should have been used to “renegotiate this terrible deal” with the AFL, so Tasmania could keep the team “we deserve”.
“What really blows me away is that ten minutes after the planning commission published their report, the premier was on social media thanking the TPC commissioners and telling Tasmanians he was going to go ahead anyway because apparently ‘this is bigger than politics’,” Lambie said.
“The problem is that it’s bad politics that got us into this mess in the first place.”
The senator’s latest intervention comes as the Hobart Clinic, the state’s only large-scale private mental health facility, prepares to close.
“… Our health system is on its knees and our literacy rate is still going backwards,” Lambie said, referencing the clinic closure.
“We just can’t afford this stadium especially when we have a perfectly good one at York Park in Launceston.”
Macquarie Point Urban Renewal Minister Eric Abetz today said he hopes to have an order through parliament by Christmas to approve the stadium.
“We are hopeful and confident that the stadium will be passed,” he said.
“The Legislative Council is the master of its own destiny … we would encourage them very, very strongly to ensure that they deal with this matter before the end of the year.”
