Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader
The contract between the Tasmanian Government and the AFL confirms Jeremy Rockliff was a pushover for Gill McLachlan.
Tasmanians will fork out a minimum of $460 million and carry all the inevitable cost over runs for a new stadium at Macquarie Point.
This on top of the $144 million we’re paying for the licence we’d already earned on merit, and $60 million for the new high performance centre.
Regrettably, the new training centre originally marked for Hobart’s northern suburbs will now be in the city, meaning the benefits aren’t shared.
Tasmanians will also be on the hook if the stadium isn’t ready by 2027 and again the following year.
No other team in the AFL has come at such a cost to the public purse.
We’ve been signed up to the largest state sponsorship and blank-cheque project costs for a sporting team, by the smallest and poorest state, in Australian history.
Meanwhile, a growing number of Tasmanians have no place to call home, and the publicly funded Bellerive stadium looks set to become a stranded asset.
The stadium development is already on the nose with people across the island.
The release of Gill McLachlan’s sweet deal for the AFL will only harden opposition to the Macquarie Point stadium, across the island and across political boundaries.
The Greens believe most Tasmanians want our own AFL and AFLW teams without billion dollar strings attached.
The campaign to stop the stadium, and renegotiate the deal with the AFL, will only gain momentum.