Media release – Our Place Hobart, 9 May 2024
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Our Place group has condemned government plans to seek to build the Mac Point stadium using a public/private financing deal as the nightmare scenario for Tasmanians.
Our Place spokesperson Roland Browne said, “cost over runs and delays are the norm with such deals, with the result that higher costs are inevitably borne by taxpayers; public bailouts are often required when projects go sour, and politics inevitably combines overoptimistic projections with budgeting coupled to growing secrecy as projects begin to collapse.”
“It’s a recipe for disaster and the only path to ensuring it is otherwise is to have a government capable of overseeing a highly complex megaproject. That’s not this government.”
“This is a government that paid Alistair Clarkson $100,000 for a report on football he never delivered and seems to think that’s okay. If they can’t handle that, they cannot manage a billion dollar deal. If they’re not capable of fixing our hospitals and schools, you can guarantee they will get taken to the cleaners on any deal with big finance. And little Tasmanians will be the losers. The May 2023 agreement with the AFL is a disaster. It’s all one way, with the AFL paying next to nothing and the State of Tasmania taking all the risk,” said Roland Browne.
“The government has already projected the Mac Point Stadium will lose $30m a year. It’s a financial disaster. If it’s a partnership with public equity, they will shift all losses to the State. And on past form, Premier Rockliff will gladly take that on. The Plenary proposal is like an Afterpay arrangement: get it now and pay later, but at highly inflated rates. It will be a burden on State budgets for years and years, cutting into future expenditure on services such as schools, hospitals and housing,” concluded Mr Browne.
