Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Thank you, honourable Speaker, for the opportunity to speak on trade and major investment. Let us talk about major investment, and particularly about the gigantic proposal that we have in front of us with this disastrous stadium. Yesterday’s integrated assessment report from the Tasmanian Planning Commission makes it clear this investment is a dud for Tasmania. It will not benefit our state. Instead, it will be a weight that drags our state down.
It will burden us with even more debt than we already have for the foreseeable future. It will introduce risk on every front.
There is a risk to the AFL team. The Premier has made an arrogant agreement with the AFL, promising them a stadium in exchange for a team. Now that the stadium is most definitely a dud, it places the Tasmanian AFL team at risk. There is a risk to the state’s finances through this stadium.
Yesterday’s report states clearly that the stadium will generate an ongoing cash deficit. It will impact on our credit rating as a state and it will lead to a downgrade. It will lead to an additional $1.86 billion in debt compared to the situation if the stadium was not built. This stadium is also a risk to the health and wellbeing of Tasmanians who will miss out on health infrastructure and investment in services that they need.
It beggars belief that the Premier would stand here this morning and say that the stadium will benefit Tasmanians. At best, yesterday’s report said that said there could possibly, maybe, hopefully, be some social and health benefits to the stadium. There are certainly no financial benefits to be found, given it will result in that enormous debt that I mentioned earlier.
Let us just think about the benefits of investing in health infrastructure. It is a double positive to invest in health infrastructure. The infrastructure build would boost the economy in exactly the same way the Premier claims a stadium will but it will also have the added benefit of boosting the health and wellbeing of Tasmanians.
The government’s own report by the KPMG says that money spent on hospitals would have a greater benefit than a stadium. It is a double investment to invest in infrastructure for health and in services for health. It boosts participation of people. It boosts their health and boosts their wellbeing. It provides them the opportunity to experience general joy because they can function in everyday life when they’re feeling healthy and well. It is clear that prioritising a stadium will not be transformational for Tasmanians, no matter how much the government tries to claim that it will be. It will not benefit all Tasmanians.
This government and the Premier are stuck on a failing project. They do not have the depth or the maturity to acknowledge they have made an enormous mistake with this stadium. They do not have the courage to look at the evidence and change course. This government faces a choice. They can choose to shackle the people of Tasmania with enormous debt. They can choose to ignore evidence and advice and they can choose to keep pushing a dud – or they could choose to take a different pathway, one that puts all Tasmanians first. They could choose to make the beautiful York Park Stadium one of the best playing grounds in the country.
I was in the airport the other day and someone, in the line behind me, mentioned how amazing the playing field is at York Park Stadium. The government could choose to make that beautiful stadium and ground the home of AFL in Tasmania. They could choose to fund health investment that truly benefits Tasmanians and would be transformational for people who currently suffer from incredible delays within our health system.
Come on, Premier: open your eyes, acknowledge the truth and choose what is good for the people of Tasmania. Ditch the stadium.
