The review was conducted by economist Nicholas Gruen as a result of an agreement between the state’s liberal government and the Jacqui Lambie Network, which has three seats in Tasmania’s 35-seat Parliament.
Gruen’s report finds the $775 million budget for the stadium falls short, with his assessment producing a budget of $1.096 billion, which includes costs he says have been unacknowledged.
He writes: “The project is already displaying the hallmarks of mismanagement with much of that mismanagement stemming from officials’ attempts to deliver the project within the Tasmanian Government’s commitment to limiting the stadium’s impact on state debt to $375 million. This commitment cannot be met.”
The economist also suggests Macquarie Point may not be the right site for the stadium and other sites should be considered.
“The site selection analysis released was hasty and partial and gives the strong impression of being crafted to support conclusions already made” he wrote.
“I think it likely that the site selection process rejected sites that would have generated lower costs and higher benefits while receiving greater community support.”
In addition, he found that “official reporting on the progress of the project is not candid”.
“This undermines the community’s trust in the process. Various means are being used to disguise the true cost of the project. Their impact is escalating over time.”
Gruen also writes that the timeline for the project, as set out in the agreement with the AFL, is unrealistic and that rushing the project definition and design phases elevate the risk of a cost blowout.
He recommends extending the timeline for the project, considering the planning of the stadium in the context of the larger plan for Hobart’s future, that the government should provide a “candid reanalysis” of the cost of the project to government and that the construction of the stadium “should be driven solely by optimising its value for money to the Tasmanian community”.
When releasing the report, Tasmania’s minister for business, industry and resources, Eric Abetz, said the government was “moving ahead” with the stadium at Macquarie Point.
On the same day, Tasmania’s premier, Jeremy Rockliff wrote on his official Facebook page, “the stadium stacks up”.
