The future prospects of a Tasmanian AFL team may be decided at the ballot box after the state’s Liberal government called for an early election.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said on Tuesday he will call for the poll due to a standoff with two former Liberals who quit the party to sit as independents on the crossbench, putting Rockliff’s government into minority.
The pair have supported the government on confidence and supply matters but Rockliff wanted the pair to sign a deal which would limit their abilities to vote on opposition bills and amendments.
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“The parliamentary Liberal Party this afternoon met to discuss the failure of former Liberal MPs John Tucker and Lara Alexander to commit to a new, enduring confidence and supply agreement,” Rockliff said in a statement.
“It was unanimously agreed that in the light of this, it was appropriate for me to request the governor to call a general election.
“The only way to restore the stability and certainty Tasmanians need is to re-elect a majority Liberal government.”
It is up to the state’s governor whether the election will actually be held.
The state was not due for an election until mid-2025 but the early vote, likely to be held on March 23, will now have the construction of an AFL stadium at Macquarie Point as a central issue.
The AFL granted Tasmania the 19th license, with planned entry into the league in 2028, on the condition a new roofed stadium was build at Macquarie Point in Hobart.
Rockliff has firmly supported the construction of the ground, which last month was costed at $715 million, and plans for a $70 million high performance training centre on the eastern shore of Hobart were announced in December.
But Tasmanian Labor leader Rebecca White has argued for months the stadium is too expensive and the money would be better spent on solving the cost of living crisis. The Tasmanian Greens withdrew their support for the state’s AFL license bid last April.
Given the AFL has firmly maintained without a stadium, there will be no team, it remains to be seen how a Labor government would act once in power.
While they support a team they do not agree with the terms of the deal, and have consistently argued the stadium cost will blow out over the planned $715 million. However they allowed the project to be declared a Project of State Significance and thus assessed, which was a major step towards its construction.
It is most likely Labor would pledge to renegotiate the deal but it is unclear whether this is even possible.
“Labor will always support Tasmania having our own AFL and AFLW teams, but such rigid conditions for a stadium that will cost the state dearly for years to come should never have been a part of any deal,” White said in a statement last October.
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The latest YouGov poll, conducted in early January, had the Liberals at 31%, Labor at 27%, the Jacqui Lambie Network at 20% and the Greens at 15%.
Because Tasmania’s House of Assembly uses the proportional Hare-Clark system, and not individual electorates as seen in most mainland elections, if those numbers held up on election day all four parties would win seats and a majority Liberal government (as premier Rockliff wants) would be effectively impossible.
Labor and the Greens have previously governed the state in an alliance but in 2019 White said her party would not repeat the “mistake”.
The Liberals have governed the state since 2014. All other states and territories in Australia are governed by Labor.
The AFL team is planning to launch its nickname and colours in March, with Devils the favourite but concerns remaining over whether a deal can be struck with Warner Bros given their existing license for the Tasmanian Devil character.
While using the Devils name in an AFL context would likely be allowed, it’s believed selling merchandise with the nickname would be a problem.
