Over the past year, Our Place – Hobart has been standing shoulder to shoulder with community members, experts and local groups to challenge the government’s push for a billion-dollar stadium on the Hobart waterfront. We’ve taken our case all the way through the Tasmanian Planning Commission’s (TPC) integrated assessment process – putting evidence on the table, highlighting multiple flaws in the proponent’s material and putting forward a positive alternative vision for Macquarie Point.
In July, we presented at the TP public hearings. Our legal team and expert witnesses exposed major shortcomings in the proponent’s submission – especially the misleading visualisations released in 2024 that downplayed the stadium’s impact on the Cenotaph, Sullivans Cove and the wider waterfront. We showed the TPC and the public what the real “before and after” views would look like (you can see them here). The difference is stark, and it makes clear that this project would fundamentally reshape Hobart’s most significant civic space in ways Tasmanians were never honestly shown.
We have also put forward an alternative: a Macquarie Point that serves the community with hundreds of new homes, a substantive space reserved for Tasmania’s Palawa people (for a Truth and Reconciliation Park or other use as determined by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community), cultural and public spaces, and a waterfront precinct that builds on Hobart’s heritage rather than burying it. Our Place is about more than saying no to a stadium – it’s about saying yes to a better vision.
Now we wait
The TPC’s Final Integrated Assessment Report is due by 17 September 2025. This report will weigh the evidence from the proponent, from independent experts, from us and from hundreds of Tasmanians who made submissions. It could recommend that the project should proceed, it could recommend that it not proceed and, in the process, it could confirm what so many of us already know – that this stadium comes at too high a cost, economically, socially, and culturally.
What could happen next?
- If the TPC recommends against the project: it will be the clearest signal that this stadium does not stack up. The government, however, can ignore that recommendation and push ahead with the Premier’s vanity project. And, while the Parliament will have the final say, a negative report from the Planning Commission will give strength to those in Parliament and across the community who want to see Macquarie Point developed responsibly, and without a stadium.
- If the TPC recommends the stadium proceeds with conditions: the government will press on with the project. Again, the fight will shift to the political arena, where Parliament will decide whether to approve the project.
In either scenario, community voices will be vital in holding decision-makers to account. Premier Rockliff, in furthering his obsession with the proposed stadium, has introduced fast-track legislation, and then abandoned it. He’s attacked the TPC, but now appears to be willing to await its report. It’s on a knife edge. If only Tasmania had a responsible Labor opposition!
Our Place in this moment
Whatever the TPC recommends in September, one thing is certain: this is not over. Our Place – Hobart will continue to campaign for a future that respects our history, honours our public spaces and invests in what Tasmanians truly need.
The TPC’s report is not the end – it’s the next step. And, together, we’ll make sure Hobart’s future is shaped by the people who call it home.
