Economist Dr Graeme Wells argues that in not ‘playing by the rules’ on the controversial stadium approval, Premier Rockliff is damaging Tasmania’s reputation.
My January article in this journal noted that the Planning Commission was likely to make the same adverse conclusion as the three earlier cost-benefit analyses of the Macquarie Point stadium. I also argued that all political parties should anticipate this result, and how they would react to it.
The Commission has now delivered its Interim Report. After accusing the Commission of relying on biased information, and claiming that the PoSS was taking too long, the two major parties in Liberal and Labor have reacted.
In lockstep, they came to same conclusion – to abort the PoSS process. In doing so, they hope Parliament will ignore the provisional recommendation of the Report – that costs exceed benefits by a wide margin.
This decision has been accompanied by a flurry of misleading claims.