Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Honourable Speaker, I rise to speak in support of the amendment moved by Dr Woodruff. I do not believe that we can speak about budget mismanagement in this original no‑confidence motion without also speaking about the stadium. As outlined by Mr Bayley just now, we know that the stadium is going to be a significant financial burden to our state going forward for many years.
I just wanted to bring some of the voices of the people of Tasmania into speaking on this motion. Once the no‑confidence motion was tabled yesterday, I had a large number of people emailing me with their thoughts on it, and many of them linked this motion with, and I will read some of those comments out now.
Hi Cecily,
I am writing to you in the hope that you will support the no confidence motion in the Premier. The Premier has delivered blunder after blunder in recent times and Macquarie Point Stadium proposed legislation is probably the biggest of them.
Dear Cecily,
I urge you to support a no confidence motion in the government of Jeremy Rockliff should that come to pass, we know stadium will cost in excess of $1 billion and at a time when our health, education, housing and social services systems are under extreme stress, coupled with the existing debt carried by Tasmania and its taxpayers, it is time for all parliamentarians to take a principled stand against this monstrous waste of taxpayers’ money.
Just heard the news. I hope this will enable a move to a sounder government for our special state. Something needs to be done to stop this. Premier Rockliff’s rash and undemocratic behaviour – re: The ill-conceived stadium.
It goes on with other examples. Another e-mail I received –
A major plank of the budget is paying for the stadium. This again is financially irresponsible. There are a range of other costs that will occur, for example the extra $75 million for the Northern Road. Cost blowouts and the payment of interest on the loan. There is also the proposal to sell parcels of land, which will cause an additional cost in terms of revenue foregone. Quite simply, we cannot afford the stadium.
The people of Tasmania understand that the stadium is a significant part of budget mismanagement and that needs to be acknowledged in this no confidence motion. The evidence is clear. We have in the budget outlined the many costs of the stadium. What they are going to contribute to debt and to deficit. The people of Tasmania can see that and we in this parliament need to acknowledge that as well.
I speak in support of this amendment and urge people to vote for it.
