Our Place – Hobart has described MPDC’s announcement today of a possible increase in stadium capacity by 7,000 seats as another of many deceptions surrounding the stadium, and one that only raises further questions.
Spokesperson Roland Browne said:
“Given the Tasmanian Planning Commission found that the planning for traffic and parking for the stadium was woefully inadequate, how does the MPDC plan transport and parking for an extra 7,000 patrons without creating further traffic chaos in Hobart? The answer is: they haven’t done the planning.
They are announcing an expansion of seats they have no money for, and for which there is no feasible traffic, transport or pedestrian management. They are deceiving us.”
Describing the announcement as a diversion to avoid the growing Webuild stench, as that company faces criminal proceedings in NSW, Mr Browne said:
“As usual, there is no information about the cost of expanding the seating. They just say: ‘without breaking the bank’.
“Isn’t the bank already broken? Isn’t Tasmania, with an income next year of $10 billion, looking at $146 billion debt by 2040?
“How much is too much for a stadium for this government so deeply in debt and facing credit downgrades? And for an economy Deloitte described just 2 weeks ago as woeful?
“How much more damage do our health and housing and education systems have to suffer before someone in the government or the Tasmania Devils admits the disastrous consequences and the huge social cost for all Tasmanians from a blank cheque for an AFL stadium?”