Ms O’CONNOR – Thank you, Chair. Premier, I want to go back to your statements which lack credibility about the stadium only costing Tasmanian taxpayers $375 million. Why aren’t the costings for the removal of the historic Goods Shed available, and what is your understanding of what it will cost to move the Goods Shed, and who would carry that cost?
Mr ROCKLIFF – Well, Ms Beach from the Macquarie Point Development Corporation spoke about these matters yesterday, and I can assure you, Ms O’Connor, that the investment I’m making into the stadium is $375 million. And if you would like to ask Ms Beach further questions –
Ms O’CONNOR – I’d like to ask you, because you said you’d be managing this project to within an inch of its life.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Absolutely.
Ms O’CONNOR – Okay.
Mr ROCKLIFF – You remember that, do you?
Ms O’CONNOR – It would be really helpful to know, given you’ve got such a close management role in the finances of the stadium, what your understanding is of what it would cost to remove the Goods Shed.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Ms Beach put that on record yesterday. I’m happy to provide some –
Ms O’CONNOR – Could you? The question is being asked of you.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Yes, and I’ll refer to Ms Beach’s statement. What I’m saying, Ms O’Connor, is that the contribution from the State Government will be $375 million and the contribution from the Federal Government is $240 million. A good partnership on that urban renewal project. What’s being missed in all this is that it’s more than just the stadium itself; it’s the development of the Macquarie Point site, and which is a significant opportunity, given it is way underutilised, a wasteland, effectively. A sewerage plant within those boundaries.
Ms O’CONNOR – Well, there’s another cost.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Yes, but that was always going to be part of removal anyway.
Ms WEBB – So you were always planning to develop it for something special, yes.
Mr ROCKLIFF – That’s correct, and –
Ms WEBB – There was always the opportunity for that.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Yes. And my view is –
Ms O’CONNOR – But back to the question about the Goods Shed.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Well, I can ask Ms Beach to –
CHAIR – I’d really like to get out of overview and we have infrastructure later in the day.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Which is –
Ms O’CONNOR – I understand that, Chair, but I think it’s important to establish to the greatest extent possible what this stadium and its associated works are going to cost the people of Tasmania.
Mr ROCKLIFF – $375 million, Ms O’Connor.
Ms O’CONNOR – That is not true. You can’t say that. Your own financial impact statement makes it clear you’re going to load Macquarie Point Development Corporation up with at least $145 million in debt. You’re scratching around for private partners. What happens if they don’t come through? The people of Tasmania will pay the cost overruns, the subsidies for 30 years, and you won’t even tell the committee what your understanding is of what it would cost to remove the Goods Shed and put it up near the Cenotaph.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Which looks great, I reckon. The, you know, heritage value of the shed being moved, viewing of the Cenotaph through the roof there.
Ms O’CONNOR – Yes, great.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Which I think is tremendous and –
Ms O’CONNOR – The RSL doesn’t.
Mr ROCKLIFF – Well, the RSL have certain views. We’re agreed to have a good neighbour charter with the RSL. There are mixed views amongst some of the RSL membership, and we’re wanting to ensure that the stadia project and the Macquarie Point Precinct is very respectful of our servicemen and women.
Ms O’CONNOR – Can I ask, premier – sorry. Okay. Thank you. Can I ask, do you expect the private sector to fund the development of the multi-storey car park that’s planned? I read yesterday you thought that you could get the private sector to help out with the northern access road. Would there be a toll on that road so that a private company could return a profit? Because we know the private sector is not going to invest in a loss-making venture. Who’s going to pay for the multi‑storey car park and the northern access road and the removal of the Goods Shed?
Mr ROCKLIFF – We’re expecting great interest from the private sector when it comes to the stadia project. We’ve already had interest. You know, it’s an exciting opportunity, Ms O’Connor.
Ms O’CONNOR – But just answer the question. Who is going to pay for the carpark?
Mr ROCKCLIFF – We are expecting private sector investment when it comes to the stadium project, and $375 million will be invested from the Tasmania government on the project.
Ms O’CONNOR – And the rest of it.
Mr ROCKCLIFF – Well, you know $240 million from the federal government as well. And, you know, we’ve drawn a line in the sand. We believe it’s a good investment.
Ms O’CONNOR – The tide’s coming in.
Mr ROCKCLIFF – A good investment for the Tasmanian community, and yes, it will secure an AFL team but also 4,000 jobs in construction. There will be many opportunities for private investment and further economic generating activity.
Ms O’CONNOR – Just to finish on this line of questioning, because you have not answered the question yet, do you expect Macquarie Point Development Corporation to borrow in order to move the Goods Shed, and do you expect the private sector to fund the carpark and the northern access road. Simple questions.
Mr ROCKCLIFF – Look, there is some work to go through over the course between the planning system – and this is a planning document, in terms of the submission. We will invest $375 million into the stadium.
Ms O’CONNOR – And the rest of it.
Mr ROCKCLIFF – No, $375 million. I am happy to provide – to ask Ms Beach to come to the table and answer some of your questions. I take great interest in the project, of course, but the project is the most scrutinised project that I can ever recall.
Ms O’CONNOR – But you are not even answering these questions, and you are pretending it is being heavily scrutinised. Here we are trying to scrutinise you on it, and you are avoiding the questions.
Mr ROCKCLIFF – Well, there was –
Ms WEBB – Who is paying for the Goods Shed to be moved?
Ms O’CONNOR – Yes.
Ms WEBB – Who is paying for it?
Mr ROCKCLIFF – We are investing $375 million into this project.
Ms O’CONNOR – That’s not the question.
Ms WEBB – Who will pay for the Goods Shed to be moved?
Mr ROCKCLIFF – Well, this was carried through and worked through yesterday with Ms Beach.
Ms O’CONNOR – What’s the answer then?
Ms WEBB – What is the answer?
Mr ROCKCLIFF – I am happy to ask Ms Beach to come to the table, if you like?
Ms WEBB – Surely you can answer the question. In the general terms, who is paying for the Goods Shed to be moved?
Mr ROCKCLIFF – We will take you through the process.
Ms O’CONNOR – You are supposed to be managing this within an inch of its life.
CHAIR – Welcome, Ms Beach.
Mr ROCKCLIFF – Thank you.
Ms BEACH – Thank you.
Mr ROCKCLIFF – Anne Beach, who is the CEO of the Macquarie Point Development Corporation. Thank you, Anne.
CHAIR – So the question is, who is paying for the goods shed to be relocated? That’s the question.
Ms BEACH – Thank you.
CHAIR – And the only question. So, through you, Premier, the Corporation will lead that project with the existing funds that we have.
Ms O’CONNOR – Do you have some costings on it?
Ms BEACH – We are working through that. As I noted yesterday, there are a couple of things we need to consider here. There is a couple of different ways we can relocate the shed. One is it can be dismantled and then re-assembled, and the other we can look at potentially moving it as a whole building. We will go through a process of going to market to test the best way to do that, and there are a few ways that we have looked to fund that, and using the existing funds that we have.
One of the things that we have done to be fiscally responsible, because we are a public non-financial corporation and maintain our own funds is we have a reserve fund. So, where we manage our capital projects, and savings we make we retain, and we will use that to manage any additional costs and things that pop up along the way, and that is how we seek to manage the goods shed relocation.
Ms O’CONNOR – Can I just ask then, you must have indicative costs of those options that you talked about. Are you able to give the committee your best indicative costs of what it would cost Macquarie Point Development Corporation to move the goods shed?
Ms BEACH – We need to take this to market, so it’s really important we don’t indicate to the market a price.
Ms O’CONNOR – Five million, ten million?
Ms BEACH – Can I come at it a different way?
Mr ROCKCLIFF – Well, Ms O’Connor, Ms Beach has answered the question.
Ms BEACH – So in terms of the money we have got available –
CHAIR – We have got a supplementary from Ms Webb.
Ms WEBB – So you are using money that you have squirrelled away, essentially, managed to save elsewhere and capitalise in some sense. So how much is that currently sitting as an amount available for Macquarie Point Development Corporation? How much is in that bucket?
Ms BEACH – I don’t have that figure in front of me, but I can provide it.
