Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Honourable Speaker, I rise to speak on the member for Bass’s motion on respecting the community’s voice and re engaging with the AFL amongst other groups and thank you for the motion that you have brought today.
We know that community opposition to the Liberals Macquarie Point Stadium is at an all-time high. I rallied a couple of weeks ago with thousands of people on Tasmania’s parliament lawns recently against this dodgy stadium. There was a huge sense of disquiet amongst that group who were there. We know they are representative of many Tasmanians across the state.
In my own electorate of Bass, I have been having conversations with many people for years who are opposed to the stadium. But even in the last week, people who have come and spoken with me about completely unrelated matters have spontaneously raised the stadium and drawn the connection between the stadium and the money that the government plans to invest in the stadium and what that will mean for them missing out on the services that they need and money not being invested in those services.
We know that there is strong opposition to the stadium because 839 submissions were made to the Tasmanian Planning Commission and 85 per cent of those were opposed to or critical of the project. We have had recent polling which the member for Bass has made reference to in her motion, and that polling shows that 70 per cent of Tasmanians are opposed to the Liberals spending more than the promised $375 million on the stadium.
Even 40 per cent of those people who do want the stadium are against going over the cap. We know that up around 60 per cent statewide are against the stadium, and in the north of the state that figure is far higher.
Unsurprisingly, at the same time, the Liberals’ level of support has dropped to its lowest level in two decades. There is a connection there. This project is deeply unpopular in the community and it is affecting the way Tasmanians are evaluating their representatives in parliament, and they are dropping in favour of the people.
This week we have finally seen the Liberals admit that the stadium will cost more than their initial estimate of $715 million. They have increased that projection to $945 million. They still will not admit they have broken their promise to Tasmanians to ensure no more than $375 million is spent on the stadium, but every direction that you look here, these figures are a moving feast. They’re rubbery.
We know the costs will not stop at $945 million. We have half a plan, how can we possibly know how much it will cost? This government has a history of budget blowouts. The AFL High Performance Centre has gone up over 60 per cent, the Cradle cableway price has tripled, the wharf upgrades at Devonport will be five times more than first estimated.
We know that this is a stadium which is going to cost more than a billion dollars. This is money that could otherwise have been spent on services that Tasmanians really need, like health, housing and education. This stadium will put us into significant debt. It will mean that Tasmanians miss out on what they really need. That is why this stadium is not popular. It makes no sense that we invest this money in a stadium when we have great stadiums, and particularly one at York Park in Launceston, which is already in the process of being upgraded.
I think that the minister takes Tasmanians for fools. He spent quite some time in here suggesting that if different questions had been asked in the recent polls that people would have somehow responded to the poll differently. Tasmanians are not fools. They can look at these figures, they can look at these plans and they can see what this will do to our state. It is time that the government stopped gaslighting the people of Tasmania and started respecting them for their views and acknowledging that this project is deeply unpopular.
The majority of Tasmanians also have issues with the Liberals bypassing the independent planning process and trying to ram the stadium through with enabling legislation in parliament. Fair enough, too. This is a completely corrupted process. It is worse than what Paul Lennon did with the pulp mill.
We saw yesterday in the draft bill released by the government that this bill will give unprecedented powers to the minister. It is not even worth the paper that it is written on because it can be changed at the whim of the minister. Any conditions on the stadium made by parliament the government can rip up. If we thought the Spirits fiasco was bad, this is going to be so much worse because minister Abetz will be able to do whatever he wants to make this stadium happen, no matter how dodgy. The minister will effectively be the proponent, the planning authority, and the regulator. How is that good process in any way, shape or form?
The Tasmanian Planning Commission has raised a number of issues with the stadium as it currently stands, and it is unclear whether these have been addressed in the bill. That is why we were asking for scrutiny committees in our motion this afternoon because we need to have as many opportunities to examine and scrutinise this stadium’s plan as we possibly can.
This stadium, fully cooked, half-baked, it will be an eyesore among Hobart’s heritage-laden landscape, our beautiful landscape, and it will cause gridlock in the already struggling transport system, and it will not even be fit for a cricket match as it stands at the moment.
What we have is a project that is dodgy. It is 50 per cent planned. We are expected to vote on it without really knowing what we are voting on. This needs to be renegotiated. It is a dud deal that we have to have this stadium. It is not even true. I know when the member for Bass was speaking before, she talked about it is common for contracts to be renegotiated. Things change, people come back to the board, and they look at it again and they work things over and find new ways forward when the situation changes. That is what needs to happen here in this situation with the stadium.
We know that Tasmanians are passionate about football, and we deserve a team in Tasmania. The Greens wrote to the AFL last week outlining some of this history and asking for the AFL to reconsider. Minister Abetz, who was here just before, can say that the AFL are not bullies, but they have made this incredible demand on Tasmania, demanded that we have a stadium that is going to send us into debt, demanded that our money be put to their stadium and not put into the services that Tasmanians need.
Maybe bullying is a word that the minister is not comfortable with, but how about state capture? This government has been captured by the AFL, and they are dancing on the end of their puppet strings.
Tasmania has been a part of the Australian Rules football since the sport began. The Launceston Football Club is about to celebrate its 150th birthday. It was formed before clubs like Collingwood, Richmond, and Hawthorn. For decades and decades Tasmanians have been fighting for an AFL team on top of this incredible history with AFL in our state. The Greens have been consistent as part of that fight for a team. We have long said that we support a team in Tasmania. Despite this history, despite our proud record of producing football stars, the AFL has not believed in Tasmania.
Tasmanians have come out in force to support the Devils. As the minister said, we have just reached 210,000 founding members this week. However, we are not being respected by the AFL when they have these huge demands on us. That is why recent polling shows that Tasmanians believe the AFL has treated Tasmanians unfairly because they have treated us unfairly. We have proven that the Devils are going to be successful no matter what. 210,000 members. There is already momentum in the team, so it is unfair that the AFL is holding Tasmanians to a dodgy stadium deal when it could be renegotiated. It is time for the Liberals to get their priorities straight and it is time for them to renegotiate this deal. The minister spoke earlier about firm leadership. Well, firm leadership is standing up to the AFL, standing up for Tasmanians, renegotiating this deal and getting a deal that is good for our state instead of a deal that is a dud. We deserve a team. We do not deserve a dodgy stadium. As I said at the beginning, we thank Mrs Pentland for this motion that she has brought to us today.
The Greens will be supporting it. We are in agreement with many of the things in this motion. We acknowledge the polling, we acknowledge the change in the financial situation and we certainly support any negotiations that would lead to a better deal for Tasmanians.
