Stadium proposal a massive dud

The project’s business case doesn’t stack up, writes Shane Broad

THE business case that Premier Jeremy Rockliff dropped for the Hobart stadium two days before Christmas proves the proposal is a complete dud. The cost-benefit analysis (page 57 of the business case) finds the stadium will result in a net loss of $306m to the state’s economy.

Even this disastrous result relies on the continued use of extraordinary assumptions, such as the new stadium hosting a major event every eight days including NRL, American college football and English soccer matches.

No wonder, despite previously claiming investors were “lining up” to buy into the project, the business case is forced to admit there will in fact be no private investment whatsoever.

Instead, Mr Rockliff has decided to throw even more Tasmanian taxpayer money at the project.

As well as the $375m he has already committed, Mr Rockliff has committed to borrowing another $85m (page 65 of the business case) for his Taj Mahal by the Derwent.

This $85m has wrongly been interpreted by some media outlets as private sector money – it isn’t, it’s borrowings that’ll add further to the state’s ballooning record debt.

So, the state government’s contribution is now $460m, plus $26m previously budgeted for Macquarie Point, plus the value of the land on which the stadium will be built.

For a project that will return economic benefits of potentially as little as 35c for every dollar invested (page 57 of business case), this is a completely reckless waste of taxpayers’ money, and a massive broken promise from a premier who has repeatedly pledged to cap the state’s contribution at $375m.

All this at a time when people are living in tents, in their cars, can’t get decent health care, when key frontline essential service positions aren’t being filled and when people are struggling to pay their power bills.

This government lost sight some time ago of what the key priorities for Tasmanian state governments are and should be.

Labor, if elected in 2025, will focus on the key priorities for governments, which are health, housing, education, cost of living, community safety and responsible financial management.

It’s no wonder Mr Rockliff tried to sneak his business case out just before Christmas.

All it does is prove what Labor has been saying all along: the new stadium is a reckless waste of taxpayers’ money, particularly when the state has so many other far more important priorities.