Nearly three in four Tasmanians polled last month want the full cost of the Macquarie Point stadium disclosed to parliament and the public.
The uComms survey of 1,164 people found 74.4% agreed the cost should be released, against 9.1% who disagreed. Support held up across every age group and both genders.
It was commissioned by anti-stadium group Our Place and taken on August 26 and 27.
More than half of respondents, 55.7%, said the AFL should wear any cost above $1.13 billion. 5.7% said Tasmanian taxpayers should, while 26.3% said both.
Half of those surveyed disagreed that the government had handled the stadium well. About 31% agreed.
Our Place spokesperson Roland Browne said “people are unhappy” with both the state government and the AFL.
“The government must disclose the true cost of the stadium and the loan costs, promptly,” he said. “They must tell the truth.”
The poll also asked how people would vote at a state election, putting the Liberals on 26.8%, Labor on 21.8%, One Nation on 18.4%, the Greens on 15.9% and independents on 15%.
Political analyst Kevin Bonham said the figures were close to the most recent EMRS poll.
Writing on his blog he said it would likely return 10 Liberal seats, nine Labor, eight One Nation, four to five Greens and three to four independents.
He cautioned that uComms has been “erratic” in Tasmania, underestimating the Liberals by seven points in 2021 and Labor by six points in 2024.
Jeremy Rockliff pledged in February 2024 to cap the state’s capital contribution at $375 million “and not one red cent more”, with the rest funded through borrowings made by the Macquarie Point Development Corporation.
Independent MLC Meg Webb lodged a motion in the Legislative Council last week calling for the highest likely construction cost to be tabled once tendering closes but before any contract is signed.
Webb’s motion cites correspondence tabled at the Public Accounts Committee indicating updated cost advice is due in late September or early October, with a builder expected by the end of the year.
A Greens motion seeking an updated estimate was voted down 25 to 7 in the lower house last month, with Labor joining the Liberals.
