The Liberals and Labor have teamed up to vote down a Greens’ motion ordering public transparency on the stadium costs. The major parties won’t enable Tasmanians to know how much the stadium is set to cost before a contract for its construction is signed.
After the Liberal Government defied Parliament’s calls for an updated stadium cost, the Greens tabled a new motion which sought to require them to do so. The motion also ordered the government to provide a final agreed cost before signing the contract for its construction.
With construction costs rising since the stadium cost estimate was made, no one genuinely believes it’s going to cost $1.13 billion – not even the Treasurer. This is public money, and the public deserve to know how much they’re forking out for the stadium.
We expected the Liberals to vote against stadium transparency. They’ve written a blank cheque and are clearly intent on keeping the latest stadium price rise secret from the public. But it was as surprising as it was disappointing to see Labor lining up alongside the government, against stadium scrutiny.
Labor have long said they want to scrutinise the stadium project and voted for our previous motion calling for stadium cost transparency. We even tried to talk to Labor about amendments to our motion which they might support, but they voted the motion down.
It will shock many Labor supporters that they didn’t support public transparency on the latest cost estimate, before the contracts signed, especially given Mr Winter stated he expects the cost will go up. The Liberals are writing a blank cheque for the stadium project, and Labor are handing them the pen to sign it.
No matter what you think of the stadium, we should all be able to agree that scrutiny on this project is the least the Tasmanian community deserves. Especially when the Liberals are making cuts to the essential services Tasmanians are already struggling to access.
Labor might have failed to fulfil its fundamental role as an opposition and scrutinise the Liberals’ stadium spending, but the Greens will continue to stand up to the Liberals, and push for basic public transparency on the real cost of the stadium.
