Tasmanian Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff has dismissed suggestions her party’s opposition to the proposed Macquarie Point stadium is out of step with public opinion.
Speaking on Triple M on Friday, Woodruff stood by the Greens’ pledge to block the Hobart waterfront project, despite both Labor and the Liberals backing it.
“We’d love a stadium. We can’t afford a stadium,” Woodruff said.
When asked whether the fact that 70% of elected MPs support the stadium meant it had a mandate from voters, Woodruff pushed back.
“Labor’s vote went backwards and … we’ve all got the same number of people in the house,” she said. “There’s a more progressive crossbench. That is a different change in the chamber.”
Woodruff said the Greens were sticking to their election promise to direct stadium funds into health and housing instead.
The $945 million project is expected to directly receive $375 million from the state government, $240 million from the federal government, $15 million from the AFL and more than $300 million in state-backed loans.
If the stadium is scrapped, the AFL’s contribution disappears and federal funds – earmarked only for Macquarie Point – will also be lost.
“We’ve promised people that we’re going to go and do everything we can to fight to put that money into health and housing,” Woodruff said.
“We’re not going to go back on that because that’s what people who voted for us have been begging for us to do.”
Her comments come as crossbench negotiations continue ahead of parliament’s return on Tuesday, with the Greens and Labor due to meet today.
So far, the Greens have refused to back Labor’s no-confidence motion, citing a lack of compromise on key issues – including the stadium.
“We have had a hard time getting any real negotiating with Dean Winter so far,” Woodruff said.
“We’ve not closed the door … things are moving on, but so far we haven’t had any genuine movement from Dean on behalf of Labor towards any of the issues that we’ve been campaigning on.”
