Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There was much excitement when former infrastructure minister Anthony Albanese announced on 22 June 2012 that the federal government would contribute $50 million towards the redevelopment of Macquarie Point. People talked of how the precinct was the last big brownfield site in any capital and how more than a billion dollars of investment would be unleashed. The minister himself noted:

Sitting on the edge of the Derwent River right next to the historic Constitution Dock and a stone's throw from the city centre, Macquarie Point is not just a city asset, it is a national asset. In real estate parlance, the site has it all—location, opportunity and … availability.

Quite rightly, the minister went on to add that while the design of the project was up to the people of Hobart, he said, Given the next stop south of Hobart is Antarctica, it makes sense part of to be considered for a tourist and scientific facility for Antarctic activity.'

The people at the announcement ceremony who laughed at my quip 'don't stuff it up' aren't laughing now, because here we are, more than a decade later, with virtually nothing except almost $40 million gone up in smoke. That is an outrageous scandal for which the entire blame lies at the feet of a succession of Tasmanian governments, Liberal and Labor, all of whom have failed to take responsibility for the project, to grip it up and to lead it. The redevelopment should have been finished by now. But what have we got? Nothing but a couple of Macquarie Point Development Corporation corporate headquarters, a couple of sheds, some garden beds and new road that needs to be ripped up—hopeless. Just imagine what that $40 million could have achieved ripping into the elective surgery wait list. Just imagine how many years of dithering and squabbling could have been saved if the lengthy initial public consultation hadn't been abandoned or if, right back at the start or just about any time since, the Premier had ordered into the same room the heads of TasRail, TasWater, TasPorts, the mayor and the head of the Macquarie Point corporation and told them they weren't leaving until they were all in agreement.

That's what was required. But instead we've lurched from thought bubble to thought bubble. How about some Eden domes? No? How about we just drop everything and do what MONA wants? Although I must say that their proposed reconciliation park is important. And now the state government's latest idea is to build an AFL stadium with the staggering price tag of $750 million—or more likely well over $1 billion—to be funded largely by the taxpayer. Good grief. What's next? A Ferris wheel or an interplanetary space port?

No wonder now Prime Minister Albanese has described progress over the past 10 years as 'appalling' and has urged the Tasmanian government to get on with the job. It's no wonder that I've reached out to both the PM and the current minister for infrastructure and made it perfectly clear to both of them that I don't support the Tasmanian government's request for hundreds of millions of dollars to build the stadium—not least because Mac Point is not the place for a stadium, because the precinct should be a free and accessible area for the whole of the community.

Sure, many Tasmanians, including me, would like a Tassie football team in the AFL. But I've also advised both the Prime Minister and the minister for infrastructure that Tasmania has so many more pressing issues, with more than 4,500 people on the public housing waiting list, a health system on the brink of collapse, chronic underfunding of education and increasing traffic congestion. Quite frankly, if the state government have access to $750 million to spend on a stadium—more likely more than $1 billion by the time the damn thing's built—then they have $750 million or more to put into the services and infrastructure that the Tasmanian community desperately needs. And that's what the vast majority of the community actually want. So, until these issues are fixed, or at least put on a credible pathway to being fixed, I cannot, and I will not, support this outrageous misuse of taxpayer money. I urge the federal government not to be fooled by the Tasmanian government's grossly irresponsible con job and not to hand over even one cent for the Macquarie Point stadium project.