There is no one more invested in the Tasmania Devils than the state’s premier.
That’s why Liberal leader Jeremy Rockliff is staking his political career on the construction of a new football stadium and seeking to circumvent the state’s planning commission to “get the job done” and avoid what he fears could become a “bloody mess”.
In an exclusive interview with this masthead, Rockliff said those who argued an AFL team in his state wouldn’t work were doing so for selfish reasons, and he insisted his decision to introduce special legislation to expedite the construction of the stadium was justified.
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff is adamant the stadium must be built.Credit: AAP
He conceded it would be a challenge to have a new stadium at Macquarie Point built by the AFL’s 2029 deadline and a training facility ready for the team’s first pre-season ahead of its proposed arrival in the competition in 2028.
The Tasmania Devils already have more than 200,000 members. But if Rockliff’s bid to get approval for the build, due to go through parliament by July, fails, the AFL will rescind its conditional licence and those members could be left without a team.
It’s a risk he’s willing to take.
“There’s nothing I detest more than governments seat-warming and not doing. Short-term politics is easy. But I’m looking to see where this is in 2035, not 2025.”
Rockliff also said the stadium’s existence was vital to the long-term success and viability of the incoming team, pointing to the failings of expansion team Gold Coast, which joined the league in 2011 and is yet to make the finals, and were without a home base for several years from their inception.
“As I recall it, the Gold Coast didn’t have their training facility up and running for quite some time … and I don’t want a bloody mess,” Rockliff said.
“I want to ensure that, as tight as it is and as challenging as it is, that this team that comes in, which people will say won’t work in Tasmania, etc – and I think that’s for selfish reasons – we’ve got to give it every single chance.”
The Age’s Sam McClure sat down for an exclusive chat with Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff.
Earlier this month, an interim report from the Tasmanian Planning Commission found the stadium’s true construction cost was more than $200 million greater than the government’s $775 million estimate and would ultimately leave Tasmania with an extra $1.8 billion of debt.
But Rockliff and the AFL have been clear that Tasmania would not have a team at all unless there is a roofed stadium that seats 23,000 people built at Macquarie Point.
Rockliff, who hit out at the report for failing to be independent, doubled down on his initial criticism.
“My view is they went in there with a pre-determined view … from my point of view, it wasn’t objective,” the premier said.
“Issues around traffic and issues around pedestrian access and all those sorts of things are really important issues, but they’re not fatal flaws in terms of not being able to deal with them and overcome them.”
An artist’s impression gives the bird’s-eye view of the proposed stadium.
He said top-of-the line facilities were also crucial to attract – and retain – playing talent.
“This is a multibillion-dollar industry. The AFL are not going to be altruistic in saying, ‘Tasmania, yep no worries, you’ve asked for it, so therefore here you go – here’s your 19th licence, do your best’.
“This has to work. It has to work for Tasmania, it has to work for the AFL, it has to work not just for the next five, 10 years, but I want to make sure that the Tassie team is here in 100 years and Tasmanians are proud of it, just like Blues supporters and Collingwood supporters are proud of their team.”
The planning commission’s final report wasn’t due until preliminary final week, and could have been delayed until early 2026.
The premier’s move to progress the build via special legislation could mean it is passed through both houses of parliament by July.
“From that point on, once legislation has passed, we can get on with the job and hope to start works by Christmas,” he said.
“It was keeping our foot in the door. I wasn’t about to have it slammed shut in my face, so we had to work with what we’ve got.
“The tight timelines, the to-ing and fro-ing, I did not want to see a lawyer’s picnic, I got a clear sense in the community to get on with the job and get it done and that’s why I’ve chosen the enabling legislation path, it still gives parliament the say.
“I would like to get it complete in 2029. It was always going to be the case that we would have a year that we have a team at the start of 2028, and we utilise York Park and Bellerive up until we get the stadium complete.
“I also recognise that the stadium infrastructure has to be built for the Olympics as well [in Brisbane in 2032], so there is going to be competing workforces there. So this is why it’s important to bring in the legislation, get the job done as soon as possible.”
The premier conceded that while most Tasmanians want, and believe they are entitled to, their own AFL team, they also strongly believe they shouldn’t have to build a stadium.
“But I wouldn’t put all Tasmanians in that basket,” he said. “When it comes to the crunch, I believe the majority of Tasmanians will want a team and a stadium.
“You don’t [get the team without the stadium] and that is a hard thing to convince people of.”
The fact that those living in the north of the state would have to make a five-hour round trip to see the team play in Hobart has been thrown up by opponents as a sticking point.
But Rockliff was adamant people would make the drive from Launceston to Hobart.
“I see them come down for [NBL team] the JackJumpers and I have met them. I’ve been on the road back to the north-west coast myself and I see the coasters, lining up for the quarter pounder with me at 10.30 in Bridgewater Maccas, excited about it all, and they’re travelling,” he said.
The premier was recently a guest of the South Australian government and the AFL at Gather Round and came away from the experience filled with positivity.
“The Adelaide Oval was a harder sell than we have. Marching in the street, political opposition, a hard sell, a greater majority against it than I believe are against the stadium in Tasmania, but they got it done. After coming back from Adelaide, I can’t find a person that doesn’t think that it was a good investment,” he said.
“My view is that Tasmanians will embrace this project, but, as an entirety, the project won’t be embraced until it is there and people are walking through the turnstiles and I have to accept that.
“People have fought about this for decades and going to the AFL and saying, ‘Thank you very much, we are Tasmania and we’ve given you champions for the last 100 years, we deserve our team’.
“Every time and every premier who has ever done that, the AFL has slammed the door in their face and said no. So we had to put some serious skin in the game, and we have.”
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