Rockliff seeks $240m after ‘constructive’ stadium meeting

PRIME Minister Anthony Albanese says he had a “constructive” meeting with Premier Jeremy Rockliff to discuss Tasmania’s business case for a new stadium at Macquarie Point, but he has stopped short of committing federal funding for the $715m project.

Mr Rockliff will head into 2023 with a renewed focus on securing Commonwealth support for the multipurpose roofed stadium.

It comes as opposition parties labelled the project “a turkey” and “absolute folly” after the public release of the business case on Friday.

The Tasmanian government is seeking $240m from the Commonwealth to help build the stadium. The original request had been for $375m, but the government’s business case revised the total cost of the project down from

$750m to $715m, while the AFL will contribute $15m for construction.

However, the state government will now borrow against land sale or lease for commercial uses to generate $85m to fund the stadium, while $26m has been removed from the capital cost estimate due to already having been committed to existing works at Mac Point.

When asked about his impression of the business case at a media conference in Sydney on Friday, Mr Albanese said the report was being examined

by the federal Infrastructure Department.

“I had a constructive meeting with the Tasmanian premier yesterday,” he said.

“We’ll examine the detail [of the business case].

“We, in the past, have put $50m into Macquarie Point way back in 2012. And since then there’s been very little progress on that site.

“I think this needs to be viewed, though, as how will it transform urban development in that beautiful part of Hobart, in that beautiful state of Tasmania? So we see urban development and cities policies as being very important, and that’s the context in which we will examine any proposal and we will do that.”

Mr Rockliff said it was his “expectation” that the federal government would “see the benefit of this project”.

“It is more than an AFL stadium, it is an urban renewal project,” he said. “[I think] $240m is a reasonable ask. We are not asking any more or less than we need.

“We are working towards securing those funds ASAP and would like to see it in the next federal budget in May.”

State Labor Treasury spokesman Shane Broad said the business case was “a lump of coal in the Christmas stocking of the Tasmanian people”.

“The state is now up for $460 million plus $26 million that was allocated to Mac Point, plus the cost of land,” Dr Broad said.

“So the price has gone up through the roof.

“And the other key piece of information is that the costbenefit analysis shows that the government, the state of Tasmania, will actually be $306 million worse off.

“So this project is a turkey once and for all.”

The stadium is being sold as the centrepiece of a broader arts, entertainment and sports precinct at Mac Point.

Greens Leader Cassy O’Connor joined Dr Broad in lambasting the business case, describing it as “absolute folly”.

“When our hospitals are collapsing under huge strain and people are sleeping in tents, there is no business case for this stadium,” she said.

However, Tourism Industry Council Tasmania CEO Luke Martin backed the business case, saying it “clearly demonstrates the stadium is far more than just an AFL ground, and anyone still running that line is really being disingenuous”.

“It presents a compelling vision for putting Tasmania on the map for major events, and the economic activity and jobs this will generate,” he said.

Tasmanian Hospitality Association boss Steve Old agreed, saying that the proposed stadium’s “flow-on effect” for the state’s hospitality businesses would be “phenomenal”.

“The impact a stadium like this would have for our industry is significant,” he said.