Hobart’s new AFL stadium is to be decided by state parliament after Tasmania’s Planning Commission opposed its construction.
The commission’s recommendations and impact assessment were released as separate reports.
It states that an enclosed stadium at Macquarie Point, on the waterfront, should not be built as its benefits are outweighed by the costs.
But state premier Jeremy Rockliff believes the report “massively” underestimates the benefits of such a stadium, to be used mainly by their tentative Tassmania Devils AFL men’s and women’s teams.
The proposed 23,000-seat stadium is key to the fate of a Tasmanian team in the AFL.
“Stadiums are complex. This is the reason why across the nation special laws are used to approve them instead of the traditional planning scheme,” the premier says.
“At the beginning of this process, it was known that parliament would have the final vote on the project. It is now time for MPs to have their say.”
Rock claims the government needs to chase such “ambitious” projects for their young people.
“It will create jobs, boost our tourism and hospitality sector, secure world-class entertainment and keep our economy strong,” he says.
“It is time to get on with the job.”
STADIUM PROJECT FINDINGS
The commission’s recommendations report took issue on several fronts: benefits, urban planning, cultural heritage, location, logistics and Aboriginal heritage.
“The fundamental problem is the size, location and geographical features of the site do not support the disproportionately large, monolithic building proposed,” it concludes.
“It is a building which is … completely at odds with long-established planning principles guiding and informing development, and with the land and urban fabric surrounding the site and heritage values associated with nearby places.”
It says the project will have “unacceptable adverse impacts” on Hobart and hurt the economic welfare of all Tasmanians.
On economic and social benefits, it says the benefits will be small compared to the public cost of building the stadium.
It says modelling predicts that every working Tasmanian household will have to pay $5900 on average to fund its construction.
“To pay for the stadium through taxes over its assumed economic life of 30 years would require state taxes to be raised by approximately $50 million per annum,” the report says.
The stadium was initially expected to cost $775m, funded mainly by the federal and state governments with minimum input from the AFL, multiple media reports say.
That cost since rose to $945m but the commission says a $1 billion loan is required to build it and that debt is likely to reach $1.8 billion after 10 years.
“There will be an ever-increasing debt associated with the stadium because of the compound interest effect unless taxes are increased, or spending on public services reduced, or other planned state capital projects abandoned, to pay for it,” the report states.
- Click here to read the recommendations report in detail.
- Click here to read the detailed impact assessment report.
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