Game on for state election 'referendum' on AFL stadium

Perth Now

a day ago

Opponents of a billion-dollar waterfront stadium proposal that would play home to a Tasmanian AFL team vow to step up campaigning if a snap election is called.
They will be met with the voices of Tasmanian AFL legends - such as the Riewoldts, Matthew Richardson and Brendon Gale - in an election one analyst describes as a "referendum" on the project.
Tasmanian politics was up-ended this week by the successful vote of no confidence in Premier Jeremy Rockliff.
Unless the Liberal party opts to remove Mr Rockliff and negotiate a new deal with crossbenchers, an election is set to be called no earlier than Tuesday.
It will be the first winter campaign on the island state for more than two decades and the fourth in seven years.
Senior Liberal figures including senator Jonno Duniam are calling the prospect of a snap election "nuts".
"I would have thought every effort should be put into not going to an election ... the people that lose out most in all this - forget the parliamentarians - it's the people of Tassie," he told ABC Radio.
Analysts tip an unpredictable campaign given the nature of the political turmoil, with fresh candidates from the federal election in May adding another dimension.
Ex-federal Liberal MP Bridget Archer is viewed as a likely candidate in Bass should Mr Rockliff hang on.
Anti-salmon independent Peter George, who ran Julie Collins close in the safe federal seat of Franklin, told AAP he was considering his options.
Opposition leader Dean Winter moved the no-confidence motion due to the state budget, which included ballooning deficits and debt forecasts, as well as proposals to privatise state assets.
However, it's the stadium that looms as the biggest issue.
Veteran political campaigner Brad Stansfield, who has worked on the Liberals' last four election wins, said it would be issue No.1.
"At the last election ... we mostly kept it hidden from the campaign," he said on his FontCast podcast.
"This campaign is going to be the referendum on the AFL stadium that we haven't yet had. It is coming like a steam train."
The roofed Macquarie Point stadium is a condition of the AFL licence, with the state government responsible for delivery and cost overruns.
But recent polls suggest Tasmanians are not sold on the need for a new stadium.
Labor and the Liberals support the stadium, but Mr Stansfield said Mr Rockliff would be the one who paid the electoral price.
"If you don't like the stadium, you will vote against the Liberals," he said.
Roland Browne, spokesperson for the anti-stadium Our Place group, told AAP they would campaign if there is an election.
Firebrand senator Jacqui Lambie, independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie and acclaimed author Richard Flanagan are among well-known Tasmanians to front their cause.
Mr Browne said he foresaw a scenario where one or both of the major parties would join the Greens in opposing the project.
"Everybody wants the AFL teams. But the stadium is a millstone," he told AAP.
Stadium supporters hope the Devils, who have employed favourite son Brendon Gale as its chief executive, can win over stadium opponents.
Senator Duniam said while the state government was copping flack for its struggles to complete the project, the AFL should look to amend the deal or its timelines.
"There's one party to this debacle which seems to keeping pretty quiet for the most part and that's the AFL," he said.
"How about the AFL actually look at what's going on here because of what they've asked us to do?"