{"id":280572,"date":"2025-11-12T23:45:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T23:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/280572\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T23:45:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T23:45:11","slug":"afl-stadium-approval-debate-to-begin-in-earnest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/280572\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL stadium approval debate to begin in earnest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Debate is set to begin on an order to green light a contentious stadium attached to a state’s AFL dream.<\/p>\n

Construction of the proposed roofed Macquarie Point stadium in Hobart is a condition of the Tasmania Devils entering the AFL and AFLW in 2028.<\/p>\n

The stadium has split the community and drawn political battlelines amid rising budget debt and criticism the $1.13 billion venue is not the right priority.<\/p>\n

It is required to pass both houses of parliament, with debate on an order for approval set to begin in the lower house on Thursday.<\/p>\n

With support of Tasmania’s governing minority Liberals and Labor opposition, the stadium has the numbers to pass the lower house despite crossbench opposition.<\/p>\n

It faces a far trickier path in the upper house in December, with a handful of undecided independent MPs set to decide whether it gets the tick.<\/p>\n

Premier Jeremy Rockliff, who signed the licence contract with the AFL, said the stadium would be huge for the state and MPs should be responsible with their vote.<\/p>\n

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“By all means scrutinise, but make sure that we do not lose this opportunity. This is an opportunity we cannot afford to lose,” he told parliament on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The state’s planning commission recently recommended the project not go ahead because its costs outweighed the benefits and it was not the right fit for the waterfront heritage area.<\/p>\n

The government has championed the stadium as an economic driver and believes some of its social benefits can’t be quantified.<\/p>\n

The AFL has maintained a “no stadium, no team” mantra and has said the deal can’t be negotiated.<\/p>\n

Upper house independents Dean Harriss and Bec Thomas, whose votes appear crucial in determining whether the stadium passes, on Tuesday raised concerns about its cost.<\/p>\n

Despite the political turmoil, the Devils have pushed on with building a club and have started training for entry in the second-tier VFL in 2026.<\/p>\n

The government faces financial penalties if the stadium is not ready by the club’s second season in 2029.<\/p>\n

Anti-stadium and pro-stadium rallies have been planned in the weeks before the upper house vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Debate is set to begin on an order to green light a contentious stadium attached to a state’s…\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":{"0":"post-280572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280572","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=280572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280572\/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=280572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}