The federal government’s plans to build a football stadium at Hobart’s Macquarie Point is being stymied by its own local member, with Clark MP Andrew Wilkie believing that over $700 million of taxpayer dollars should be directed elsewhere.
In an interview with the ABC, Wilkie says there are bigger priorities that should be further up the funding list.
"Tasmania obviously has a health crisis, a housing crisis, a traffic congestion crisis. We've got some really pressing problems, so why on earth would I support a quarter of a billion dollars of federal money going to a stadium?"
"Plus, there's an issue of the location. The community is telling me loud and clear that Macquarie Point is too important a place for a footy oval, and do we even need a third AFL stadium in the state," he says.
"I know it's unusual, but my approach to my job is to make decisions based on their merits and spend money ethically, and I just can't defend that kind of money coming into my electorate for that purpose," he says.
It follows on from the news that the state of Tasmania and the AFL had reached an in-principle agreement for the code’s 19th licence. The state government has pledged $12 million for 12 years to get the franchise on its feet, plus $60 million towards a high-performance and administration complex.
Half of the funding for the stadium will be funded by state dollars, with the remainder to come from federal government and private sector involvement. The federal government is currently reviewing a state government-created business case for the stadium.
Wilkie says that his electorate have strongly opposed the Macquarie Point stadium proposal.
"If there was strong public support for this then I would probably give voice for that, I would probably line up with the strong majority. But at the moment, it's not being a populist, it's that I'm representing the majority of my community that don't want it, that want the money spent elsewhere."
While Wilkie was in favour of a rectangular stadium to be built on the Macquarie Point site for an A-League club a decade ago, he says the contexts are entirely different.
"For a start, the quantum of money being discussed for a rectangular stadium was a fraction of what is being discussed for the AFL stadium, it was going to be measured in tens of millions of dollars. It was also in the context of A-League backers who were prepared to put up a substantial amount of the money themselves."
Wilkie’s opinion has divided politicians throughout the island state, with Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff defending his government’s plans for the licence and stadium, while a number of senators and MP’s on either side of the aisle, including Tasmanian Labor senators Anne Urquhart and Catryna Bilyk and Liberal MPs Bridget Archer and Gavin Pearce.
To read the Tasmanian Government's business case, click here.
Image: Ausstadiums
