Photo: Conor Castles-Lynch
There was movement at the gardens, for the word had passed around
That the people soon would come, to have their say
And join with the like-minded to discuss some hallowed ground
So pollies too had gathered to the fray.
All the bold and noble speakers from electorates near and far
Were mustered on the stage above the crowd,
For the people love hard talking when their rights are under fire
And they made their voices ring out big and loud.
And four to five thousand people can get pretty loud!
You can watch the full proceedings here:
You can view our photo gallery at the bottom of the page.
MC Roland Browne from Our Place kicked things off by identifying the themes that weave like cable strands though the stadium debate, and called for unity in the face of the forces seeking to divide us or who stand to profit from a stadium – the AFL and their gaming industry partners, the Labor and Liberal parties, and the Murdoch empire. He described the lack of integrity shown by the State Government as a “masterclass in public sector mismanagement”.
Richard Flanagan, MC of the first rally against the stadium in 2023, remembered Peter Cundall telling him, “The people always get it right in Tasmania – so it’s about time the Liberal and Labor parties started listening to us”, before he introduced the Roberts Brothers with a reprise of the Stadium Song first performed at that rally.
The speeches got off to a stirring start when Jacqui Lambie, a staunch opponent of an extra stadium in Tasmania and a proud champion for veterans said, “Win or lose I’m a bloody Tasmanian and we’re not moving on this stadium . . . we don’t live in a dictatorship; we live in a democracy!”
Kristie Johnston’s Karma Sutra allusion struck a chord as did her words, “As well as lumbering the state with crippling debt, trashing our democracy, this state government wants to treat us all as fools.” She chided Labor for its betrayal of voters, “Labor will support the stadium, no matter the cost.”
The Roberts Bros then introduced Meg Webb with a nice rendition paraphrasing Bob Dylan in ‘Knock, knock, knocking on Nelson’s doors’ – a salient prediction of what lies ahead for all the candidates in the upcoming Legislative Council Elections.
Meg has stuck to her guns in exposing the faulty governance that has surrounded the stadium ‘debate’ from its inception in a secret deal, signed without reference to Treasury, the AG, Cabinet, or his ministry, and not released to the public until the cooling-off period had expired. “The consistent theme since day one for this AFL demanded Mac Point Stadium is that it’s been an utterly dodgy process. It is a declaration of failure by the Premier when we see him continually having to change the rules on the run . . . All of the decisions made in relation to this stadium have been through unaccountable, undemocratic, deceitful processes.”
Craig Garland had a message for the AFL, “I would call on the AFL. Stop your bully boy tactics. Acknowledge the situation here. … It is the wrong location and more importantly it is the wrong time. We are in a budget crisis.”
Cassy O’Connor further rallied the crowd with her typically motivational call to the barricades which put a fire in our bellies. First, she called out the lies, “The Greens were told when we signed up to be part of a tri-partisan push for the team that the stadium was not part of the deal. Lie! We were told that this deal is a good deal for Tasmanians. Lie!” Then she closed with, “We absolutely can win this battle with people power but if all else fails and there are two upper house independents prepared to vote for this massive mistake, we’ll see you in the trenches at Macquarie Point.”
The final speaker was Andrew Wilkie, Federal Member for Clark who, after defining Tasmanian as a Kakistocracy or government by the worst, least qualified and most unscrupulous people, went on to bemoan the lack of a viable opposition. “One of the most important building blocks of a healthy democracy is to have a strong and effective alternative government. One that takes the fight up to the government, one that scrutinises it, one that gives us an alternative. Because if you don’t have an alternative government, you do have an elected dictatorship. And in this state right now, the Labor so-called opposition is completely and utterly spineless and useless.”
Roland Browne rounded out the discussion with a reminder of past successes when ‘people power’ was brought to bear in overturning bad decisions and then asked us to sign the petition, and “be vocal with those upper House members who have an important decision to make when this legislation gets to the Parliament.”
The Roberts Bros bookended the rally with the Stadium Song, for which Richard had penned a new verse:
Now Rocky keeps losing parliamentary seats
Now that the sick have to order Ubereats
Because Rocky’s stadium is as popular as Dutton’s radium
And Labor keeps singing a song of deceit.
You can stick your stadium up your bum. [chorus]