It is simply unfathomable that the Tasmanian Liberal and Federal Labor governments are committed to funding a new stadium at Macquarie Point. We already have two quality stadiums in UTAS Stadium and Blundstone Arena that are suitable bases for a Tasmanian AFL team.
I, like many Tasmanians, would like an AFL team. But there are so many more pressing issues and as I go about my work in the community I am hard pressed to find many people who support the proposal. We have more than 4,500 people on the housing waiting list, the least affordable rental market in the country, a health and aged care system on the brink of collapse, chronic underfunding of education and crushing traffic congestion. But apparently the top priority is a colosseum to entertain the masses and that is unconscionable.
More than a billion dollars, and that’s what the stadium will end up costing, for an AFL stadium in sight of another one, with just 3,000 more seats and likely no roof, is beyond bizarre. This is a failure of governance on an eye watering scale.
This proposal is an insult to the many Tasmanians who are doing it tough and just goes to show how out of touch both the State and Federal governments are with the Tasmanian community’s needs. Rather than kicking goals on the field, the Government should be using this money to kick goals in helping fund the things that really matter to the community.