Government Bears Stadium Blame if LegCo Rejects Bill

Government Bears Responsibility if Stadium Legislation Fails to Pass

If the legislation enabling the issue of a permit for the proposed stadium at Macquarie Point fails to pass the Legislative Council vote in early December, the blame should be placed squarely at the Rockliff government’s door. Independent Members of the LegCo do not need to feel that they would be responsible for the mooted end of the dream of having Tasmanian AFL/W teams. The government has been guilty of failure at every turn in this protracted and divisive saga.

The contract signed behind closed doors in May 2023 by then AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan and Premier Rockliff is the embodiment of the first and most egregious failure – the failure to negotiate an agreement which would ensure licenses for AFL/W teams under terms which would be acceptable to the Tasmanian public, and realistically affordable.

The 2019 AFL Licence Taskforce did not recommend that a new stadium be a condition for granting AFL licences. In fact, they stated that “… the modelling [for the business case] undertaken does not necessitate a new stadium…”; and further, that the teams should be established first and, “Upon ‘proof of concept’, a longer-term aspiration should be a roofed, CBD-based ‘Adelaide Oval’ multi-purpose facility developed for Hobart…” A longer-term aspiration! But somehow a new stadium became a simultaneous condition for the granting of the licences, and Tasmanians have been at odds with each other ever since.

Concurrent with this initial, consequential failure, were three further failures.

The first was failure to consult with anyone – not cabinet, not parliament, not Treasury and not the people of Tasmania – before signing the contract.

The second was not properly considering the parlous financial circumstances the state is in.

And the third was concealing the fact that the deal had been done until after the cooling off period. The contract was presented as a done deal with no recourse. These three actions and inactions in themselves amount to a colossal failure of governance. But alas, there was much more to come.

In the past two years we have seen further failures.

The government was forced by two of its own MHAs to refer the stadium project to the Tasmanian Planning Commission for review as a Project of State Significance. After an interim report that was overwhelmingly negative, the government attempted to circumvent the process by tabling legislation that would have ended the TPC’s investigations and enabled the stadium to immediately proceed. The TPC stated that they would continue their work and hold public hearings regardless. After initially saying they would not participate, the government suddenly agreed to do so, having realised that there was no way to prevent the TPC from concluding their work. This attempt to preempt due process constitutes a clear failure to govern responsibly and in the best interests of the Tasmanian people.

The government has attempted to obscure or hide outright the true costs of the stadium which generations of Tasmanian taxpayers will have to bear, and to obscure or minimise the true impacts of the stadium on the cultural and heritage values of the Hobart waterfront and the Cenotaph.

The effort to close down the TPC review was intended to inhibit transparent exposition of the issues in the public square. It would have prevented people from accessing factual information about the project on which to base an opinion, leaving them dependent on marketing spin. These attempts to pull the wool over Tasmanians’ eyes are further evidence of the failure to govern responsibly.

The government has chosen to disregard the expert advice of independent economic analysts and the Tasmanian Planning Commission who laid bare the true situation.

The latter spent one full year examining the project from every angle and concluded that “the disbenefits … would outweigh the benefits” of a stadium at Macquarie Point. In every case, the government tried to impugn the messengers, saying their conclusions were “a matter of opinion”, or suggesting that they were biased, or ‘not really’ experts. The government’s refusal to listen to these warnings is yet another inexcusable failure, one which could result in a catastrophic collapse of Tasmania’s finances in years to come.

The government has failed equally to respect the fact that, according to polling, around 65% of Tasmanians are opposed to the proposed Macquarie Point Stadium.

Recently Minister Abetz said, “I know what the polls tell us, but …” showing that he is fully aware of community sentiment. But despite this, the government is forging ahead, demonstrating an abject failure to represent the wishes of the people who elected them to parliament.

In the face of so much opposition to their plans, the government has again failed to act in the interests of the Tasmanian people by refusing to approach the AFL to renegotiate the terms of the contract. A new stadium should never have been a condition for granting the AFL/W licenses. Now it appears that this miscalculation may render the contract null and void; but the government has made no moves to try to remedy the situation and ensure that the team licenses can be secured regardless of the result of the LegCo vote.

Instead, we’ve relied on the de facto opposition, Greens and Independents, to present the case for a renegotiated contract to the inflexible and arrogant AFL leadership.

The government’s mismanagement of the matter of the AFL/W licences and stadium has resulted in deep division and animosity between Tasmanians. It has caused people who were supportive of, or neutral about, Tasmanian AFL/W teams, to cease to care, they are just so over it. The government’s dodging and weaving, sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors, has served to further diminish the trust people have in their government and the individuals who are elected to sit in the state’s parliament.

This is a profound failure, a failure to lead with honesty and integrity, to bring people together and to contribute to the overall betterment of Tasmanian society.

Which brings us to one final, summative failure.

If the stadium legislation is not approved in the LegCo vote in early December, the government will have failed to convince their Independent and Green colleagues of the merits of their ambitious vision.

They will not have succeeded in bluffing and bullying their way to their desired outcome.

The courageous and conscientious independent Members of the Legislative Council who vote with their heads not their hearts and reject this poorly planned, poorly timed, unwanted and unaffordable luxury project, need not feel they are responsible for the failure of the bid to bring AFL/W teams to Tasmania.

The responsibility for the failure of the venture – should it be voted down – will rightly and wholly lie with Premier Rockliff’s Liberal government.

Dr Louise Denson, retired academic, pianist/composer and taxpayer.

Tasmanian Times (TT) is a community-based news and current affairs service covering the island state of Tasmania. It exists to provide a diverse presentation of Tasmanian issues. TT creates and supports independent media content utilising the best of modern technologies and tried-and-true practices of public-interest journalism.

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