Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Deputy Speaker, I rise to speak to the motion brought by the Minister for Macquarie Point Urban Renewal. I wish the minister really was a minister for Macquarie Point urban renewal, rather than the minister for plonking a giant, ugly, obscenely expensive, divisive and unnecessary stadium in a completely inappropriate location that will destroy the aesthetic of Hobart and plunge the state into debt we may never pay off. Let’s not pretend a stadium at Macquarie Point offers any kind of urban renewal or any kind of urban renewal or any kind of appealing, inclusive renewal in anyway. It does not. Real urban renewal at Macquarie Point would create a beautiful, inviting, appealing, restored and restorative public space that is open to all Tasmanians to visit and appreciate at any time.
We’ve seen some excellent proposals for the Macquarie Point site, proposals that honour Tasmanian Aboriginal heritage, provide housing and create community space for all. Instead of the urban renewal we could have had, we are presented with a stadium that will be a drag on the state. This stadium is clear evidence of the collective foolishness of those who are in complete denial of the facts.
I have 20 minutes to speak here, and even if I filled that whole time with the abundance of evidence of the folly of this stadium, the government and Labor would bat it away. Even if the Greens had managed to extend speaking times to 40 minutes and I filled all of that with the cold hard truths of the cost, the inappropriateness, the absolute wrongness of the stadium, the suspension of rational thought displayed in this chamber means it would make no difference. The idea of this stadium has become like a brain-eating virus that has infected the minds of normally sensible people. Those people would usually look at the facts, and recognise the stadium does not fit into the space at Macquarie Point; it does not fit into the natural landscape of the area; it does not fit into the heritage or cultural values of the wharf and nearby buildings; it does not fit onto reclaimed land that is laced with toxins we cannot risk disturbing. It does not fit with the wants of the majority of Tasmanians; and it certainly does not fit into our budget.
This stadium just does not fit, and because of all of that, the government has decided it does not fit into existing planning legislation or processes either. It has simply subverted that legislation by removing the stadium from all the usual planning processes, that provide checks and balances, regulations and reassurances.
In a giant display of overreach, the government has overridden, accepted and legislated planning processes and opted instead for an order that is light on detail, light on regulation and light on qualified, meaningful oversight; apart from the Minister for Macquarie Point Urban Renewal, who isn’t actually engaging in urban renewal, and is one person who likely has no experience or expertise in project management, let alone the management of the biggest, most expensive project this state has ever seen. It’s ludicrous. Absolutely ludicrous that we are here debating a tiny 36 or so-word motion to approve a 157-page order, for the biggest project this state has likely seen, with the capacity to change our state, and not for the better.
As I said this morning, for the last two days, all of us in this Chamber have debated the Budget. Every single one of us has noted the state’s finances that are in a dire situation. It’s indisputable that our Budget is in a mess. Tasmania is in significant debt and the debt is projected to grow and grow. Yet, here we are. With the government expecting us all to sign off on this tiny little motion, to approve an inadequate order that will plunge Tasmania into even greater debt.
The latest figures on the stadium suggest it will cost $1.13 billion and counting. We all know that cost is only going to keep going up. We’ve watched it go up year by year already. Tasmania will be borrowing bucket loads of money and the interest on those borrowings will add even more to our debt, $2 billion more over the next decade and counting.
Meanwhile, the Premier this morning confirmed he is willing to commit our state to whatever cost the stadium might reach. ‘I cannot be beholden to the $1.13 billion’, he said. It is beyond belief that the Premier and Treasurer would willingly choose to do this when we are already in such a perilous financial situation ‑ that the Liberal government, the supposed sensible financial managers of the state, would tie us to a project that will financially destroy us. Also, Labor, which has sat in here and decried the mismanagement of the Liberal government ad nauseam, is just going to wave this motion through as well.
What’s wrong with you all? Why are you condemning Tasmania to financial ruin? Why have you suspended all rational thought? Why do you refuse to recognise the very real and serious implications this has for our state?
We know some of the reasons why. They’re flimsy reasons; clutching at straws. For example, because we won’t get an AFL team without a stadium. We’ve heard that one multiple times today. You don’t think a contract has ever been renegotiated before? Of course it has. Contracts are renegotiated all the time. The AFL is refusing to renegotiate because they’re bullies who want everything their own way so they can continue to make huge profits with little risk to themselves. They are holding Tasmania to ransom. It’s time we toughened up and stood up for ourselves, so we get what we need in this state.
Here’s another flimsy reason for the stadium that doesn’t stand up: we have to have a new stadium for our team because what we have just now isn’t good enough. Wrong. We have two stadiums already. I’m biased coming from the north of the state, but one of those stadiums, York Park, already provides a beautiful home for the AFL in Tasmania. York Park has been the home of football in Tasmania for over 100 years. The north has hosted and nurtured footy in Tassie for even longer.
Quite apart from my home-ground bias, York Park is widely recognised as one of the best playing surfaces in the country. I was in the security queue at Sydney Airport earlier this year and the Greater Western Sydney team were on the same flight down to Launceston. There was quite a bit of chatter in the line and I overheard someone telling their companion about York Park’s beautiful playing surface. It’s well-known. We have a great field and a great stadium in Tasmania already, and it’s only going to get better with the $130 million redevelopment that is happening right now. There’s also Bellerive Oval down in Hobart. There are quite enough stadiums in the state for AFL already. It’s pretty wild that we’re gonna hock ourselves to the eyeballs for a new stadium when we already have two.
The next weak argument for a stadium: The stadium will stimulate the economy, the infrastructure will make the state boom. No. The TPC integrated assessment report was pretty clear that the stadium is going to cost the state, and not just the costs I’ve outlined already, such as ballooning debt we may never repay, and interest repayments we will need to borrow to cover. According to the TPC, there will only be a 45 cent return on every dollar of investment in the stadium. We will be losing over half of what we spend. We will literally be throwing away more than 50 cents with every dollar we put into the stadium.
I recently heard of research conducted in Victoria into Neighbourhood Houses. For every dollar spent in a Neighbourhood House, you want to know what the community benefit is for that? It is $18.00 for every dollar spent. That’s incredible. Why are we accepting a project that will return less than $0.50 for every dollar we put into it; less than half of what we’re investing in it? Actually, let me rephrase that, because it’s hardly an investment when we will be losing money. It’s not a good investment, that’s for sure. Why are we accepting a project that will return less than half the benefit of what we throw into it?
What about the other things that we could be spending money on in this state? Something I hear repeated over and over is that health investment is a bottomless pit; that when we invest in health, we’re throwing money down the drain. Wrong. Absolutely, 100 per cent wrong. Investing in health has very real benefits, both for individual people who need care, but also for the economy. Investing in healthcare increases economic output. It is not an economic sink to put money into health. It is an economic stimulus. Properly funding health is a true investment that does and will benefit the state. Conversely, building the stadium is going to result in a loss of healthcare services.
The government likes to suggest no money will be taken from from health to pay for the stadium, but their claim doesn’t add up, because when we’re stuck making those millions of dollars in interest payments from our operational budget, we will have less to spend on health. There will be longer waiting lists, deteriorating health and wellbeing, chronic pain and debilitation, and people potentially dying due to lack of services. People will be less able to participate in work, less able to volunteer, less able to enjoy life, and that will all cost the state. Productivity will drop, costs to individuals and the community, and ultimately the economy, will all grow. Let’s add the resulting loss of health to the list of ways Tasmanians will be paying for the stadium.
The government can claim this stadium is going to stimulate the economy and lead to a blossoming of the state, but the evidence for that simply does not stack up. The TPC made it clear in their assessment: there will be substantial net social cost to the Tasmanian community. The costs of this project will outweigh the benefits. That’s because the economic and social benefits of the stadium are small compared to the public costs. The financial costs of this project will outweigh the benefits. The social costs of this project will outweigh the benefits. The stadium is a net negative for our state. I quote from the Tasmanian Planning Commission’s recommendation report:
The project represents a significant net cost and will diminish the economic welfare of Tasmanians as a whole, and it offers almost no scope for the site to become a vibrant, active place that is attractive to visit outside of major event mode. In very simple terms: the stadium is too big for the site, and the benefits it will bring are significantly outweighed by the disbenefits it creates.
That’s a pretty damning statement by the TPC: ‘The benefits the stadium brings are significantly outweighed by the disbenefits it creates.’
Ultimately, there are plenty of other things we could be putting our precious state resources into for far greater benefit, including other infrastructure that we need ‑ particularly given this government’s proclivity for building infrastructure and referring to the economic stimulus it brings. Any infrastructure build will stimulate the economy. There’s a whole lot of health infrastructure listed for construction in the state, but so much of it has been pushed out until years and years down the track. Instead of a stadium infrastructure that will drag our economy and the health and wellbeing of all Tasmanians down, we could bring forward infrastructure spending in health, stimulate the economy through building, and end up with facilities that will benefit all Tasmanians.
Here’s another thing stadium supporters like to say: ‘We need the stadium to give our youth a future.’ Wrong. I will quote from a speech I gave yesterday in this place:
We’ve all heard it in this place, how fond the government and particularly the Premier are of telling us the stadium will sure up the future of Tasmanian children, as if a monolithic concrete stadium will somehow magically transform the lives of children in our state and make everything better for them. It’s a longbow for sure, particularly when the stadium is going to force Tasmania into intergenerational debt that today’s children will be paying for for pretty much their whole lives. It’s ridiculous to suggest a stadium will make everything better for our children. I love Rum’un, but hugging a cute mascot of a team we all love will be cold comfort for Tasmanian children in the long run.
As I’ve stated above, the stadium is going to plunge us into debt. Interest payments on that debt will mean less money for things Tasmanians need ‑ less money for things Tasmanian children need, like education, support for their families, food, and housing. The Treasurer, who doubles as the Minister for Macquarie Point Urban Renewal, has signalled loud and clear that he will be cutting jobs and cutting services across the state.
This is yet another cost of the stadium ‑ the cutting of services Tasmanians need and deserve ‑ and children will most definitely be impacted. While a few children might end up one day making it onto the Tassie Devils team, many more children won’t even get a look in. The services they need will be underfunded and they will be missing out at a greater disadvantage. This is all part of the cost Tasmanians will pay.
‘But Tasmanians want a stadium at Macquarie Point,’ I hear the supporters say. Well, this one’s easy to repudiate. In all my years of campaigning, and now being an elected member of parliament, I can count on half a hand the number of conversations I’ve had with people who support the stadium. Doorknocking, street chats, market stalls, phoning, attending events ‑ overwhelmingly, what I have heard from Tasmanians is that they unequivocally do not want this stadium. I stood outside Harvest Market in Launceston every Saturday of this year’s election campaign, and person after person approached me to tell me they did not want the stadium. Lifetime Liberal voters in their 80s said they were voting Greens because we were the only party who did not support the stadium.
Labor members said they were voting Greens: because of the Labor Party’s position on the stadium they could not vote Labor. Young and old people from all walks of life, right across the political spectrum said the same thing, ‘no stadium’. The Greens vote grew in Bass. That’s because people know a dud project when they see one and they know what Tasmania does and doesn’t need. It doesn’t need this stadium. I’ve spoken already today of my outrage at being expected by this government to sign off on their defective stadium plan, or half plan as it actually is right now. I’m outraged by the disrespect the government has for all of us in our roles here as MPs, reducing us to simplistic box ticking for a project that requires detailed analysis, as they force their stadium into a debate in a forum that is not at all designed for this kind of decision making. Demanding we fulfil a role we’re not trained and not equipped to do, to sign off on likely the biggest, most expensive project the state has seen.
The truth is, this project is so terrible that without the government desperately and inappropriately squashing the debate into a tiny motion, it would not be given approval. Every single report that is examined, every single aspect of this stadium has reached the same conclusion. The stadium should not proceed. So, in the end, even without having planning expertise or knowledge of how to manage a major project, I can see the inappropriateness and unsuitability of the stadium for both site and the state. The evidence is clear. Macquarie Point multipurpose stadium is a terrible idea and should not proceed.
For that reason, I will be voting against this motion today. I cannot support a project that is going to put our state into debt, that will be terrible for health, housing, children and education, a project that will drain the state in every way and a project that the majority of Tasmanians don’t want. I would call on all members in this place and the other place to note the facts and make a decision based on them. The facts say this stadium won’t work for Tasmania. It’s not what we need. We need to vote against this motion and order and choose another way.
