Finding out what the Mac Point stadium will really cost

Throughout the course of our campaign to put a stop to the madness of a Mac Point stadium, we have argued the stadium is a luxury item – a vanity project – that is unaffordable and unwanted.

Since the project was first mooted, financial experts have told us that Tasmania cannot afford it: the State Treasury; Saul Eslake, Dr Nicholas Gruen and the Tasmanian Planning Commission (and the Planning Commission estimated the cost to be $1.8 billion, based on the Government’s, now totally outdated, June 2025 figures). They have warned that Tasmania is facing a dire financial future; that there is not enough money to fund basic government services into the future, let alone pay through the nose for a sports stadium that the community never wanted.

The Rockliff government has an appalling record when it comes to telling Tasmanians the truth about how much its proposed stadium will cost us. The government has repeatedly gone back on its word about the cost of the project ever since the stadium was announced.

Remember: “Not one red cent more than $375m. That is our commitment”? 

And then in December 2025, the government promised some Upper House Independents it would put in no more than $875m.  Already an increase of a half billion dollars from the 2024 promise, they now say anything above $875m would need to come from the AFL or the Commonwealth. And they relied on a project costing assessment (called a P90 estimate) they have refused to release. And it’s at least 6 months old, already.

With costs rising daily in respect of every construction input and with the completion date pushed out to (at least) 2031, this is the least likely time in the history of the project for the Premier to step up to tell the Tasmanian community where the estimates now stand.

In this information vacuum, we decided we should engage an expert ourselves, to get the best advice and to do what the government refuses to do: to inform the community and the AFL.    

And who better to engage than independent economist, Dr Nicholas Gruen?  Remember Dr Gruen? He’s the highly respected Victorian-based economist that Premier Rockliff engaged to do the stadium project cost review in 2024 for the government.  You might also remember the government didn’t like Dr Gruen’s 2025 Report, and attacked him through its media allies.

Because of his experience on this project, and his status as an economist, we’ve engaged Dr Gruen to update his 2025 Independent Review of the Macquarie Point Stadium.

This updated report will be critical to inform the Tasmanian community, and the AFL, just what the current true costs of the proposed Rockliff stadium will be, and more.

This kind of expert advice does not come cheaply.

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