The Greens have withdrawn support for Tasmania’s AFL licence bid citing a billion-dollar stadium the party says the island state doesn’t need and can’t afford.
The minor party on Saturday wrote to advise AFL boss Gillon McLachlan and the league’s commissioners of its “difficult decision” to quit the tri-partisan push for Tasmania to join the national competition.
“Tasmanian Labor should do they same,” Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said in a statement.
“They too were misled by the Premier, who reassured us the bid was not contingent on a new stadium, when we now know the AFL said it was a prerequisite from day one.”
Ms O’Connor said Tasmania had more than earned the right to join the national league, without billion-dollar strings attached.
The Greens took into account that their backing out of the proposal could derail plans for the state to obtain a licence, given they were contingent on tri-partisan support.
“We were informed this was due to the AFL’s concerns about continuity of state funding, and sovereign risk to a licence in the future,” Ms O’Connor wrote in the letter to Mr McLachlan.
The party would happily back the plan again if the stadium wasn’t a prerequisite, she said.
“We’re crying out for housing here, we need more money invested in health, and it’s just scandalous that the Rockliff government thinks it’s a good spend to invest half a billion dollars of borrowed state money into a stadium on this site,” Ms O’Connor said.
The AFL says Tasmania’s quest for a 19th licence is conditional on construction of a contentious $715 million stadium at Hobart’s waterfront.
The project requires $240 million in federal Labor funding. It is being considered ahead of the May 9 budget.
The state Liberal government is contributing $375 million, despite opposition from state Labor, the Greens, federal Tasmanian MPs including Liberals, and at community level.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff denied on Thursday he’d been “strong-armed” by Mr McLachlan into coughing up extra funds for the bid for a team.
‘The sustainability of the club’
Emails sent by him to Mr McLachlan last year have been made public under right to information laws.
One in August raised concerns to Mr McLachlan about AFL requirements “compromising community expectations, sound economic governance and ultimately the sustainability of the club”.
In May, 2022, the government flagged a funding contribution of $10 million per year over a decade, plus $50 million for start-up costs.
That was finalised in September at $12 million per year over 12 years, plus $60 million towards a high-performance centre.
“These are robust negotiations. We’re committed to the great Tasmanian dream that has been fought for many decades,” Mr Rockliff said on Thursday.
A group spearheaded by award-winning author Richard Flanagan has released an alternative vision for the proposed Macquarie Point stadium site.
It includes 1000 houses, a Indigenous truth and reconciliation park, new state library, tidal swimming pool and light rail transit hub.
-AAP
