It’s easy to see why Tasmania’s Labor opposition has been unable to resist the temptation to bash the state’s Liberal government over its deal with the AFL team and the stadium.
Over the past 12 months, he has thrown stones at Premier Jeremy Rockliff over the proposed Macquarie Point stadium and properly scrutinized the proposal, talking of “secret deals” and “blank cheques” for the AFL that they only increased after the recent release of the contract. to the public
These lines have played well so far with Tasmania.
Suited mainlanders are easy targets for Islanders, who still see themselves as downtrodden fighters, and for years the AFL has played the perfect villain.
The Labor Party is more than happy to perpetuate the stereotype.
And why wouldn’t he?
His anti-stadium strategy has helped produce a short-term sugar hit for leader Rebecca White, who recently overtook Jeremy Rockliff as the preferred prime minister.
Labor candidate Sarah Lovell handed out ‘No Stadium’ stickers in shopping centers during her run for the Upper House seat of Rumney. He won the seat easily.
The stadium debate reaches beyond Hobart
But there is also risk, especially when politics threatens to kill the football team Tasmanians yearn for.
So awakened is the public in Tasmania to the issue, normally non-political people are starting to mobilise, and Labor is now walking a tightrope.
The debate has seeped from inner-city Hobart to the Labor and football heartland of Tasmania – the working-class outer suburbs and deep regions.
If Tasmanian football fans slept through the debate, then an anti-stadium rally that recently drew thousands to parliament lawns was the wake-up call that woke them up.
His team was officially under siege and a counteroffensive was launched on social media.
A pro-team and pro-stadium Facebook group has grown to more than 10,000 members, outstripping a rival ‘anti’ group, with even the most cursory glance at members’ posts revealing a fringe of rusty Labor who question their voting intentions.
“This development needs to happen,” says Mark Paton, 61, who is from Wayatinah in the Central Highlands.
“If Labor and their Green bedfellows block this, I, as a staunch Labor and unionist all my life, will vote Liberal at the next election,” he posted on the ABC’s Facebook page.
Battle lines drawn
There are thousands of jobs potentially at stake. The Tasmanian branch of the CFMEU is said to be upset by Labor’s stance.
There are also rumors of growing pro-stadium sentiment from within the Labor Party as awareness sinks in that the fate of the team and the license are directly linked to the construction of the stadium.
If one dies, the other can’t survive, and nobody wants the blood of a Tasmanian AFL team on their hands.
Punters are learning that the AFL has skin in the game too.
The league has pledged $360 million to football Tasmania as part of the deal, with some towards the stadium as well.
If that money doesn’t flow, there’s more than one team at stake. The sport withers.
Pro-stadium Labor independent David O’Byrne says it will be a “shame” if Tasmania misses out on a team and a new sports facility.()
“If we don’t get a stadium, I don’t think we’re going to get a team,” says David O’Byrne, the Labor outsider who is a staunchly anti-Liberal but very pro-stadium government.
“So Tasmania will end up without a team, without sports and entertainment facilities, but we will still have desperate circumstances for people who need health and housing and the state will be no better off.”
“And that will be an absolute shame.”
On this premise, the government has launched an offensive of its own.
The stadium is unpopular with some but wildly popular with others, and the fear of losing the state’s newly won AFL license has given stadium supporters reason to speak out.
“People have thought, wait, we could probably lose it,” Rockliff told the ABC at the end of a tough week for his minority government.
“I can see the benefits of this, and also the discouragement in many.
“If we can’t get that, which gets us our AFL dream that has been hard-fought for decades, then it will be a very sad day for Tasmania and the naysayers will have had another win.”
“And I don’t want that to happen.”
Bumper sticker, dinner tables
There are fights going on at Tasmanian dinner tables. If Tasmania’s new football team can achieve the same level of tribalism, success is assured.
The issue will dominate the polls in the next state election, which could be sooner rather than later, but there is now no guarantee that an anti-stadium stance will be the vote-winner it once was.
Labor MP Dean Winter says it has yet to be determined whether the government can fund and build the stadium at Macquarie Point.)
“I can see and hear the other side of this mobilization. There is a group of passionate AFL fans who will do anything to have an AFL team, and I see and hear them,” says the MP Labor Dean Winter.
But there is also a stark refusal within the labor camp to face the blame if Tasmania’s dreams are dashed.
If it is going to fall, the Opposition wants it to be because of the government’s actions and not because Labor refused to support the stadium.
“It’s not a question of whether people want it built, it’s a question of whether it can be built both budget-wise and site-wise,” Winter said.
“We’re not yet at the stage where the government can say, with their heart, whether they can actually build it or not.”
The project will be piloted through Tasmania’s projects of state significance.
It was part of the deal the Prime Minister struck with party defectors Lara Alexander and John Tucker, in exchange for their confidence in the lower house as independents.
The couple wanted the stadium to be exposed to a higher level of scrutiny. They have their wish.
Both houses of Parliament will have to mark it. Then, after consultation and a design process, the independent planning commission will set the sights.
It will then return to both houses of Parliament.
Not “a pasta factory”
Labor has three crucial votes in the upper house where the bill goes, and given the rules of which party must vote as a bloc, Labor will be all in or out.
That’s a lot of rigor. But the prime minister is confident.
“I think the majority of Labor support this project,” he said.
“I’m not building a pasta factory by the sea.”
However, there are good reasons why Labor has been able to so easily criticize the deal, which will see the government fund more than half the stadium to build and sponsor Tasmania’s new club for more than a decade.
It is not yet known if the agreement went through the Council of Ministers, or if there was advice from the Treasury.
The state will pay the extra costs of a stadium that is not yet designed. It will also pay penalties to the AFL if it fails to meet construction deadlines.
Federal funding was secured for the project, but the government neglected to get the cash exempted from the state’s GST quota.
These fumbles have frustrated the likes of David O’Byrne.
He wants the project to happen, but finds it hard to trust the government to go ahead with it.
“The way the government has managed this has not been good. They cannot manage their interns. They have left people from the party,” he said.
Still, it’s all in.
Polls have Rebecca White as the front-runner over Jeremy Rockliff, some say because of the stadium issue. ()
“I have made the assessment that an AFL team will be so positive for this state, not just the economic side and the jobs, but the emotional state of the island and the pride we will show on the stage national,” he said. said
“I don’t want to be on the wrong side of history on this.”
Transparency issues have plagued the project from the start.
The seeds were sown when former premier Peter Gutwein launched the project into the public consciousness last year, taking the state by surprise.
The main stakeholders, the RSL and Regatta Association, were only told of the plans the previous afternoon.
It has been an issue throughout and has continued as recently as last week, when the government refused to table departmental advice on the stadium, despite Parliament ordering it to do so.
The Prime Minister says the advice is confidential to Cabinet and few deals have been as open to scrutiny as this one.
“I think I did the will of parliament, and I’ve always said I would be open and transparent in the deal with the AFL,” he said.
“This has been one of the most scrutinized deals and projects I can remember in my 21 years in parliament.”
Dean Winter and his parliamentary colleagues remain unconvinced of the merits of the deal. They can’t understand why Tasmania pays so much, and the AFL gives so little.
They want the deal to be renegotiated, but they know in their hearts that won’t happen.
How will this all be resolved?
Although the stadium issue had been the subject of intense debate, one thing everyone agreed on was that Tasmania should have a team.
The Prime Minister is willing to reach across the aisle to win support and ensure the dream does not die.
“I would absolutely love the opportunity to get in touch with the position leader to see what support is possible for this project.”
Whether this is wishful thinking or a way forward remains to be seen.
Macquarie Point in Hobart was selected as the AFL’s preferred site for a stadium. ()
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