Mr BAYLEY question to PREMIER, Mr ROCKLIFF
Premier, in the face of skyrocketing construction costs, you spent months telling Tasmanians the stadium at Macquarie Point could be built for $715 million, and very few believed you. Your announcement of a so-called cap on state funding for the project revealed you clearly no longer believed it yourself, and that it could be built on budget. It was the issue that dominated voters’ conversations during the state and upper house elections.
Premier, most Tasmanians did not believe for a second that your promised cap was really the full cost they would bear as taxpayers. Their scepticism has been vindicated with the release of your funding agreement with the federal government. This agreement does not even mention the word ‘stadium’ once, and it imposes a range of other conditions that will see additions to the taxpayer balance sheet, not reductions.
Given the federal government’s $240 million investment is not solely for the stadium itself, will you now admit Tasmanians will be, in effect, stumping up much more of the stadium cost than you promised? How much are they on the hook for?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER – Can we not interject before the Premier has actually started his answers? In fact, let us not interject at all.
ANSWER
Thank you, Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question and interest in this matter. Respectfully, I disagree with everything you say and your position on the stadium. You do not like it. You hate the stadium. That is your position. It is not mine.
This will be a game-changer for Tasmania. It will deliver 4000 jobs in construction. It will create a vibrant economy around the precinct and further afield and provide many hundreds of jobs right across Tasmania, just like the Bridgewater Bridge is doing with contracts elsewhere around including the north west coast where people are gainfully employed on that significant infrastructure project.
We have capped at $375 million. Not a red cent more, if that is the right terminology, will be spent and invested into the stadium. We made that very clear at the beginning of the election campaign. The $240 million from the federal government will be spent and invested in the stadium.
Dr Woodruff – No, it will not. That is untrue. Do not be dishonest.
Madam Speaker – Thank you. Excuse me, Premier. Leader of the Greens, if you wish to make a substantive motion about the Premier misleading, you may, but please do not interject on it.
Dr Woodruff – Alright. Thank you. We will do that.
Madam Speaker – Absolutely, you have every right.
Mr ROCKLIFF – The agreement is supported by the Australian Government’s most recent Budget which saw $240 million allocated to the project over three years, commencing in 2025-26, I respectfully disagree with the opposition. You might want to familiarise yourself with the comments of Cox Architecture, a week or two ago, in terms of their involvement in the project and their expectations around the project as well. I look forward to this project coming to fruition. I respect that you do not agree, but on this side of the House, we are here for jobs. Thank you.
