![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757424748_738_r1542387_1080x1080_1-1.png&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nConstruction of the $945 million roofed venue at Macquarie Point in Hobart is a condition of the island state’s licence for AFL and AFLW entry in 2028.<\/p>\n
Tasmania’s planning commission will hand down its assessment report on September 17 after weeks of mid-year hearings examining the project.<\/p>\n
To get the green light, the stadium must be voted through both houses of state parliament.<\/p>\n
A close up of the Tasmania Devils’ inaugural jumper.\u00a0Photo by Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n
It is supported by the governing Liberals and the Labor opposition, meaning it will get through the lower house, but needs the backing of several independents to pass the upper house.<\/p>\n
Lower-house independent Kristie Johnston, who opposes the stadium, will on Wednesday table a motion compelling the Liberals to release the project’s full cost.<\/p>\n
Any conditions placed on the project by the commission leading to greater costs should be made public before the vote, she said.<\/p>\n
“What I’m asking for is that all members of parliament and the public understand exactly what this AFL and stadium will cost Tasmanians,” Ms Johnston said.<\/p>\n
“We already know the cost of the project has increased significantly over the course of the last couple of years.”<\/p>\n
Premier Jeremy Rockliff spruiked the stadium in state parliament on Tuesday, the first sitting since his government’s minority rule was confirmed after a snap July poll.<\/p>\n
“If governments of all persuasions … did not invest in key enabling infrastructure … then we would be living in paddocks and caves,” he said.<\/p>\n
The planning report would help form “the next processes needed to ensure the parliament has its say”, Mr Rockliff said.<\/p>\n
Multiple upper-house independents have voiced concerns about the stadium, citing Tasmania’s ballooning budget debt and the fact AFL is already played at two existing venues.<\/p>\n
The AFL has maintained the Devils will not be granted a licence without the Macquarie Point stadium.<\/p>\n
The football club is pressing ahead and recently announced it would enter teams in the second-tier VFL and VFLW competitions in 2026.<\/p>\n
The stadium is meant to be completed in time for the Devils’ second season in 2029, with Tasmania facing financial penalties if it doesn’t meet construction deadlines.<\/p>\n
Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff repeated calls for the stadium deal to be renegotiated.<\/p>\n
“We simply can’t afford a stadium which will add almost $2 billion to Tasmania’s debt by the end of the decade,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We have teams heading off to the VFL and VFLW. Tassie’s teams are happening, with or without the new Macquarie Point stadium.”<\/p>\n
Tasmania’s 35-seat parliament contains 11 crossbench MPs, the majority of whom oppose the stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tasmania’s government is being urged to ensure the full cost of a contentious AFL stadium is made public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-130296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}