Anthony Albanese has not ruled out federal funding for a new $715m stadium in Tasmania, as the head of the AFL visited the state to shore up faltering support for a new team.
The prime minister said on Thursday that the government was considering proposals for the Macquarie Point stadium ahead of the May budget, but stressed that any commitment would not just be for a sporting facility.
His comments came as Gillon McLachlan, the chief executive of the AFL, announced a $360m, 10-year funding commitment from the league to a Tasmanian team.
He told a business lunch in Hobart that the new stadium was critical to the success of a long-awaited Tasmanian AFL team.
Albanese told reporters in Adelaide that he was considering proposals for urban redevelopment to revitalise Macquarie Point, on Hobart’s waterfront.
“That is a prime site for not just a sporting stadium, if that goes ahead, but for residential, for recreational, for commercial activity as well,” Albanese said.
“There’s a submission being made. We’re giving consideration to it as part of our budget process but also working on ways in which we can ensure that whatever happens at Macquarie Point produces maximum benefit for the people of Tasmania.”
McLachlan said in his keynote address to the Hobart function that there would be no Tasmanian team without a new stadium.
The state government has pledged $375m towards the infrastructure and is seeking $240m from the federal Labor government.
“I know there are some people who say they support the team but not the stadium, but we have been consistent with the message that it can’t work to have one without the other,” McLachlan said.
“Without the stadium, there is no team.”
He said a “destination” stadium would be vital to ensuring player recruitment, tourism for matches, and also to attract other entertainment such as international performing artists.
He said other AFL clubs were “very close” to supporting the new team, and that the league had been working closely with the federal government but would not expect a decision before the federal budget.
McLachlan’s visit to the state came amid mounting dissatisfaction with the AFL’s conditions for granting a new licence.
On Wednesday, Tasmanian federal politicians signed an open letter urging the league to grant the state a team without the requirement of a new stadium.
“Tasmania is one of the founding football states and has a long history of making rich contributions to the national game,” said the letter, signed by 10 Liberal, Greens and independent MPs and senators.
“We deserve a team of our own without having to make taxpayers pay for a stadium – something no other state has had to do to get a team.”
The signing of the letter by the Liberal MP Bridget Archer and Liberal senators Wendy Askew, Claire Chandler and Jonno Duniam - despite the state Liberal government supporting the proposal - was considered a significant blow to the plan.
But the absence of Labor signatories – despite the project being opposed by state Labor – may also signal the federal budget proposal is not dead in the water.
The Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, conceded the new stadium was a “tough sell”.
“We’ve been excluded because we don’t have the infrastructure that every other state has. Tasmania should not be overlooked. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” he told the event in Hobart.
Tasmania’s Labor opposition says the state’s stretched essential services are more deserving of funding than a new stadium.
- with Australian Associated Press
