In a statement issued late today, Labor said its position is that the stadium is a “necessary requirement” for the success of the Tasmania Football Club and its AFL and AFLW teams. The party believes the project will create jobs, stimulate the economy and give young Tasmanians a reason to remain in the state. The party did not provide any evidence for these claims, most of which were comprehensively debunked in the TPC Assessment Report last week.
Greens leader, Rosalie Woodruff MP, accused Labor of signing a “blank cheque” for the stadium and refusing to hold the government to account. Our Place Hobart called Labor’s decision an act of cowardice and a betrayal of Tasmanians, arguing that the party has abandoned its principles by supporting a project that will lead to increased taxes and reduced public services.
Media release – Josh Willie MP, Labor Leader, 22 September 2025
Tasmanian Planning Commission report response
Labor has considered the TPC report and discussed it as a Caucus today.
Our view is that the stadium is a necessary requirement to deliver the Tasmania Football Club and AFL and AFLW teams and ensure that they are successful both on and off the field.
We support the project’s approval because it will create desperately needed jobs and economic activity and give young people another reason to stay in Tasmania.
We believe that the tangible challenges in the report can be addressed and the subjective challenges can be considered by elected members, which is why we look forward to seeing the final order tabled in parliament.
In our deliberations today, we considered the progress of the Tasmania Football Club and the cost to Tasmania with not proceeding. If the State Government is unable to meet its commitments it will significantly hurt confidence in our state.
We remain deeply concerned about cost blowouts and the Liberals’ record on delivering major infrastructure projects.
As the Opposition, we will hold the government to account on costs and timelines and be constructive on solutions to these challenges, as we have been during the Spirits of Tasmania saga.
The power of Tasmania finally realising its dream of entering the national competition through the Devils cannot be underestimated.
Tasmanian Labor went to the last election supporting the stadium and our position of support of the project for the above reasons remains in place.
We urge the Government to strike the right tone during upcoming debate to secure the support of independents.
Media release – Rosalie Woodruff MP, Greens Leader, 22 September 2025
Labor Sign Stadium Blank Cheque
It’s official. After a week of reading the Planning Commission Report and handwringing, Labor have announced they will back the stadium.
Josh Willie and his Labor colleagues dodged questions last week, saying they needed time to consider the TPC’s report before making a decision. Their decision is to line up with the Liberals, at a massive generational cost to Tasmanians.
The so-called ‘Opposition’ are refusing to hold the government to account over this billion dollar albatross. Instead of real scrutiny, they’ve pledged unconditional support for the stadium — no matter the cost, problem or desperate mismanagement.
Labor have talked big about the Budget blackhole, but they’re co-signing the blank cheque for Jeremy Rockliff’s stadium.
The Planning Commission’s rejection of the project was unambiguous. It is clear services will be cut, now and across the next decade, to service the $2 billion debt.
While Labor have blindly walked away from their fiscal and social responsibilities, the Greens will continue to fight the stadium.
Media release – Our Place Hobart 22 September 2025
ALP caves in
By supporting the odious Mac Point stadium today, the Tasmanian Labor Party has abandoned any pretence of being an opposition party and revealed itself as cowards without principle or purpose.
Less than a week after plans to reduce nursing staff by 58% at the RHH Cancer Clinic became known, and with ongoing cuts in programs and more to come, Labor has demonstrated its now exists only to play the part of karaoke singers mouthing Jeremy Rockliff’s nonsense in support of a vanity project that will according to the Tasmanian Planning Commission (TPC) lead to increased taxes and reduced public services.
Why is Josh Willie supporting more taxes, job cuts and worsening public services just so Jeremy Rockliff can be photographed in a warm corporate box sipping champagne with AFL executives while the growing homeless sit in their wet tents up on the Domain hill overlooking Macquarie Point?
By backing a $1.8 billion stadium that Tasmania cannot afford and the majority of Tasmanians oppose, by going against the damning recommendations of the government’s own experts that the stadium will significantly damage Hobart’s cityscape and Tasmanians’ social and economic future, Tasmanian Labor has written its own suicide note and it will be punished (again) at the next election with a vote even worse than its historic low of 25% in the last election.
As our health services crumble and state schools worsen, and cruel austerity measures introduced, Tasmanians won’t forget who could have acted in Tasmania’s interests but weren’t up to do the right thing.
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