Treasury have warned in the budget papers that there’s a big risk the stadium cost will increase. It comes as Eric Abetz has chosen to cut jobs and strip services instead of doing what’s needed to repair the finances – scrap the stadium and make corporations pay their fair share.
In a lengthy budget paper contribution outsizing even the TT Line’s disastrous Spirits replacement project, Treasury has warned of extensive risks of the stadium costing more. Despite the Liberals’ assurances, it will be Tasmanians who pay.
Treasury cautions the Liberal Government’s projected cost of $1.13 billion for the stadium could rise, as it’s currently an estimate based on designs rather than actual market costs. The real cost estimate for the stadium won’t be known until the contractor is locked in.
Choosing a contractor who can deliver the stadium on time and budget is looking more and more rocky, with one bidder for the tender under a serious cloud. Treasury says while that process plays out, there’s a risk of the costs escalating due to the volatile construction market.
With the conflict in the Middle East jacking up construction prices, we’ve been raising the risk of cost increases with the Liberal Government. Even during the debate on our successful motion to get them to release a new cost estimate, they were denying the price would escalate at all.
If the price does go up, the Liberals have assured Tasmanians it won’t affect the budget. But Treasury have confirmed that just isn’t true, with financing the debt a $30plus million cost to the budget every year. Cost increases could even require direct cash injections from the government to MPDC.
While the Liberals have provided a direct cash injection of $500 million to the TT Line in this budget, they’re clearly taking a similar hands-off approach to the stadium as they did on the Spirits.
Eric Abetz’s decision to prioritise the stadium above the services Tasmanians need in this budget is already set to hurt the people struggling most. But Treasury has been very clear: there are significant risks the stadium cost will escalate further. Under Treasurer Abetz, that’s just going to mean more pain for Tasmanians.
