Rosny will not be the home of the new $70 million AFL high-performance centre, having lost the facility to Kingston.
After a $145,000 elector poll, which resulted in a 0.3% rate rise and split the community in two, Minister for Sport Nick Duigan has confirmed the facility is heading south to Kingborough.
Duigan said “significant due diligence” has shown the Kingston Twin Ovals offered the best location for delivery, cost and community outcome.
“The high-performance centre is one part making Tasmania’s very own AFL team a reality, something that Tasmanians have wanted for decades,” he said.
The state government has kept quiet for much of the site selection process, with previous Sport Minister Nic Street making the last comment about the location in September.
He told Parliament Rosny remained the preferred site, something Clarence Mayor Brendan Blomeley said he has continued to be led to believe since it was first announced in December last year.
“At no time was Kingborough mentioned as the preferred site and there was no communication from the Department of State Growth that there were concerns with Rosny,” Blomeley said.
“It seems that the government and club has sacrificed the better location because they failed to accurately estimate the cost.”
Blomeley said the division caused among those both for and against the project in Clarence as a result has been “unnecessarily torturous” and an “awful experience”.
“It is not the way we like to do business. If these are the people we look to, to lead our state and set an example, what hope do we have?,” he asked.
“Throughout this process, council has had to dedicate hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of money and resources to help the government facilitate this process – for what?”
The government is expected to be quizzed on the project, including when a decision to send it south was made, in Parliament today.
Duigan said a completion date on or before the end of October 2027, as agreed by the AFL, is now being pursued.
This is despite earlier predictions that the facility would be ready to use in 2026 as the Tasmania Devils prepare for the 2028 AFL and AFLW seasons.
The state government has committed up to $60 million for the facility, with a further $10 million coming from the AFL.
