Ms BURNET (Clark) – Honourable Speaker, I rise to support Mr Bayley’s motion. It’s a really important motion that we are considering. It’s the second important motion after Labor’s on the TT‑Line and that monumental overspend, the gift that just keeps on giving for Labor and that criticism of the government.
Mr Willie – Do we support that project? Yes, we do. Do we hold them to account? Yes, we do. How is it different?
Ms BURNET – Well, the –
The SPEAKER – Through the Chair, Deputy Speaker, please.
Ms BURNET – The difference, honourable Speaker, is that this is a trainwreck which is ongoing and unfolding as we speak. The Treasurer has painted a rosy picture of the stadium and the benefits it will bring. He is trying to package something that is a monumental problem and will be a millstone around individual Tasmanians necks for many years. It will be a burden on our budget for the costs that will be incurred in relation to this. The Greens have pointed out and made it very clear that this is something that will continue to be a problem for this state. We can’t get away from that, as much as Labor, in lockstep with the Liberal government, seems to want to tell us.
Mr Willie – You voted them back into power.
Ms BURNET – That is so trite –
The SPEAKER – Order. Leader of the Opposition will stop inciting you with interjections, please. Deputy Speaker, I encourage you to ignore the comments.
Ms BURNET – Thank you. I will try to ignore such petty, petulant, futile arguments.
Mr Willie – You might try to escape that fact. You voted to keep them in power.
The SPEAKER – Honourable Leader of the Opposition, you have had a warning today. I don’t want to have to give you another one.
Ms BURNET – Honourable Speaker, this project is going to plunge Tasmania into further debt in the forlorn hope that the stadium and team will bring mysterious intangible benefits that stem the outward flow of young people from this state. There are many, many other things that are causing an exodus of young people from this state. It is about job insecurity. It is about public sector failings and an irresponsible approach by this government to fund community organisations, to fund properly wage agreements; and pay and conditions are something that the Greens are concerned about. We were in support of unions and workers from the public sector who rallied last week in all corners of the state. This stadium’s not going to help that situation at all. We can’t get away from that.
I will go to clause (2) in particular and point out some of those burdens associated with this. Mr Bayley has gone through in great detail, but let’s just look at the Northern Access Road and Event Plaza and these things that haven’t been funded. These are the hidden costs: the additional site works, the northern access road and event plaza, the car park, the event buses, and so forth. The Treasurer completely dismissed the path widening, which is pretty important when you’re trying to get a lot of people away from the stadium. He seemed to dismiss that as a ‘nice to have,’ but if you have a disability – and I know that’s an issue that you’ve championed many a time, Speaker, – if you can’t design good pathways out of a stadium or you think it’s secondary that is a huge problem for access issues and equal access for all.
When we look at the northern access road and event plaza now, it is costed at $75.9 million, it is probably going be more than that, but let’s just work with the $75.9 million. That hasn’t been covered in the estimated stadium costs. It’s an added extra, but an important road to have to the site and on to the port and the Australian Antarctic Division areas as well. Yet, this hasn’t been costed and the rail line will be disrupted and I know that there’s a lot of working railway now, but it’s of concern for people who are accessing the bike track as well. Once it is done it won’t allow for large, tall trucks, as I understand, to still get under and off the Tasman Highway, but it is still a huge expense which probably has a greater price tag than we see before us in this motion.
We have heard about adjustments to the car park, but this car park – and during my time in local government there were a number of car parks discussed and brought to us for planning matters – this car park on a brownfield site with so many remediation issues is going to cost a motza – $97 million. It’s a significant amount. I calculated it to be about $220,000 per car park, which doesn’t stack up, it just doesn’t add up. Even with the modification, it still doesn’t stack up. This is going to be a legacy issue for repayments, should that car park be completed. With these brownfield sites, there are often pieces of infrastructure which need to be remediated – it can be a huge issue.
Mr Bayley talked a bit about the event buses and Mr Abetz countered those concerns. I suppose one of the concerns that the Greens have, however, is that we have an ageing bus fleet, according to Metro and their annual report, which was released late last week. We don’t have enough buses to go around. The entire Metro fleet is valued at $43.71 million in the annual report, so is it plausible that they are about to spend $49 million on event buses? These unfunded components wouldn’t be such a huge issue if the basic work had been done ahead of time, instead of scrambling to meet the AFL’s wild demands.
We have a gold‑plated stadium. It is a white elephant, but it’s going to be gold‑plated. When you look at the investment in basic infrastructure for everyday Tasmanians – catching buses, getting potholes fixed in roads, having infrastructure like new schools and roads, upgrades – let’s think about the Tasman Bridge footpath and riding a bike across there and any adjustments that have been in the wings for a long time, still need to be done.
This motion is important to have before this House. I commend Mr Bayley’s motion. We cannot have –
Time expired.
