{"id":5202,"date":"2025-07-19T06:46:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T06:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/5202\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T06:46:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T06:46:29","slug":"thousands-march-in-support-of-macquarie-point-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/5202\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands march in support of Macquarie Point stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of Tasmanians have taken to the streets to show their support for the proposed multi-purpose Hobart stadium, with organisers saying the \u201csilent majority\u201d is finally making its voice heard.<\/p>\n

Mark Brown, founder of the \u2018YES AFL TEAM \u2013 YES STADIUM\u2019 Facebook group, organised the rally, which had been in the works for months and scheduled on a weekend with no local footy.<\/p>\n

Despite worries that wet weather might dampen the turnout, Brown said the crowd exceeded all expectations.<\/p>\n

They marched from the TCA Ground at Queens Domain to North Hobart Oval.<\/p>\n

\"\"Thousands have marched in support of the Macquarie Point stadium. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

\u201cThe silent majority have now spoken up,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Greens, the independents who are against the stadium \u2013 they don\u2019t speak for me. They don\u2019t speak for the over 23,000 people in my group. They don\u2019t speak for the people who showed up today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Young \u2018Yes! Stadium\u2019 supporters with signs in support of the project. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

Brown said pro-development voices had \u201csat back and not had a voice\u201d for too long, while the \u201cloud minority\u201d of opponents dominated headlines and airtime.<\/p>\n

The march came as Tasmanians headed to the polls, with the stadium a major election issue. Brown called on opponents to offer a clear alternative for boosting the state\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to vote against the stadium, what\u2019s your alternative to bring in over $200 million into our economy a year?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t build a stadium, we don\u2019t have this money coming in that we can put further money into healthcare, education, housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Thousands of Tasmanians rallied for the proposed Hobart stadium. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

He pointed to an independent Hobart City Council report that estimated construction would pump half a billion dollars into the local economy over four years.<\/p>\n

A long-time Labor supporter, Brown said the stadium debate was enough to make him turn Liberal because of Labor\u2019s initial anti-stadium stance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was only with this issue, with the stadium when it was first announced, that I\u2019ve switched sides,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Liberals have pledged to push ahead with the stadium and its supporting legislation if re-elected.<\/p>\n

\"\"Stadium supporters cross Brooker Avenue bound for North Hobart Oval. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

Labor leader Dean Winter has also stated his unconditional support for the project and enabling legislation.<\/p>\n

The Greens, meanwhile, have vowed to block the stadium at every turn.<\/p>\n

\"\"Thousands of Tasmanians rallied for the proposed Hobart stadium. Image \/ Pulse
\n\"\"These young football players support a stadium at Macquarie Point. Image \/ Pulse
\n\"\"Participants marched from TCA Ground to North Hobart Oval. Image \/ Pulse
\n\"\"Stadium supporters Gwenda Walker, Madeleine Ogilvie and Tiana Brown. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of Tasmanians have taken to the streets to show their support for the proposed multi-purpose Hobart stadium,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-5202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5202","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=5202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}