Listen to the voices of Truchanas and Dombrovskis and say no, Hobartians, and Tasmanians!

We don’t need a billion-dollar stadium on Macquarie Point. Or anywhere for that. Most Tasmanians, it seems to me, agree this money could be better spent in many other ways.

Olegas and Peter are twin towers of Tasmanian history. Two men who literally gave their lives uncovering the wonders of our breathtaking domains. Recording our remarkable places, documenting them for the world to see.

It’s how we sell our state – lean and green. Their work heralded the birth of the world’s first ‘green’ party, but now it’s red time. We’ve reached a fork in the road with bushfires, floods, dead devils, and choked streets.

It’s time to follow our own unique directions and not be shirt- fronted by the AFL to copy the ill-fitting models of mainlanders.

 In relation to the $1billion stadium proposal I argue that the following very significant points all line up against it.

  • Business cases will suggest it won’t be sustainable even with massive federal government support (highly unlikely in current post-covid economy)
  • We won’t be able to service the debt: state debt is currently $3 billion (forecast to rise to $5 billion by 2025). The facility will continually lose money and be an albatross around the neck of future Governments. 
  • We don’t need it: York Park and Bellerive Oval can be further expanded and/or upgraded. They are arguably world class venues and have greater capacity and already host bigger crowds than all of the newer, existing AFL venues used by Gold Coast Suns and GWS, and indeed occasionally-used venues like Manuka Oval.
  • It will prove short-sighted to concentrate the state’s sporting and other assets in Hobart: history shows the north will demand – and receive – their share.
  • We can direct affordable funds to upgrading the existing stadia instead. Similar to Kardinia Park in Geelong, both our main north and south venues have seamlessly adapted to growth and expansion to date.
  • We know Cricket Australia have said there will be no Test cricket under a roof due to the playing conditions of that format of the game. High-profile music acts are also unlikely to flock here when the MCG can accommodate three times as many.
  • Being in an isolated location without surrounding housing, the proposal has not attracted lively debate. Much of its support coming from vested interests who are eyeing off new, prestige commercial space.

Olegas and Peter both knew in their bones where the state’s future lay: not in the manmade but the natural. Not in the pretentious and grandiose but in revealing and explaining our sublime natural assets.

There are many current precedents. MONA is (mostly) all underground, Dark MOFO, and MONA FOMA in the north and south, have no new infrastructure, just brilliant ideas developed with passion. Henry Jones and MACq 01 occupy existing heritage structures. kunyani and timtumili – minanya already host the world-renowned Sydney to Hobart, tall ships and the Taste. Plus, our many simply exploited resources: mountain biking, cellar doors, Three Capes, some of Australia’s best national parks, Table Cape, even the Tarkine …

We all support a Tasmanian team in the AFL. But a billion-dollar stadium is irrelevant to the forest green, gold and crimson playing here. We’ve hosted AFL for 20 years already and while a fortune has been squandered on Greater Western Sydney and the hapless Suns, a team we subsidised has won four flags.

So … no! We won’t be bribed with the AFL’s hospital hand pass, as unreasonable as it is unaffordable.

Footnote: The AFL should vote on a Tasmanian proposal, as we understand based on the Carter report and utilising the two existing venues with expanded facilities and new carparking as required. This can be underpinned by the state government reallocating the modest (by comparison with the stadium) existing multimillion-dollar annual subsidies paid to Hawthorn and North Melbourne to service debt.

Tim Hurburgh is a Hobart architect and writer. He has experience in billion-dollar projects: Crown Casino and Federation Square, and in stadia, the $100m lakeside oval, Albert Park. He is also a passionate supporter of Tasmanian football, religiously at North Hobart oval every Saturday ‘arvo in his teens and has followed Hawthorn ever since.