Yes Gringo, Mac Pt is only a short walk from the CBD, a CBD that currently has very limited parking, a CBD that has significant traffic flow problems most of the time and where one breakdown/accident can gridlock the city for hours, so few are the access roads into and out of the city. Where would the fans park to walk to a stadium at Mac Pt, like just how far away? The entire Domain would have to be developed for car parking and can you imagine the level of support that would have??
There is no doubt a roofed stadium would provide the opportunity for a variety of performances the state currently does not have. That means it must be built properly, designed to be flexible for this variety and to be used by sports scientists, health professionals, academics, event organisers, etc all year round as tenants. That will take time and creativity and cost much more than forecast. Who pays the extra? Why has Andrew Dillon said, a couple of weeks ago, that there is no room for any adjustment of any of the terms? If the stadium doesn't happen on time and in that location there is no license. Why is Tas required to build a stadium in a timeframe that can't be met? What is the real agenda behind such a demand?
Now, I know that people always say there can be no renegotiation of anything until they need to renegotiate. Maybe the AFL will a few years down the track. But by that time a significant amount of work will have been done and unbreakable commitments made, and without a proper design process we'll end up with a stadium that does not suit the purpose and is cheap, nasty and inhospitable.
Our current demographic trends have resumed their "natural" course post covid. Our population remains relatively stable due to an older cohort moving here and our young continuing to leave. It may have something to do with boredom, but really it is lack of opportunity. Typically all island nations have similar issues and although we are not a nation we have the same advantages and disadvantages as do small island nations. We cover almost the same full spectrum of employment opportunities, but the number of jobs available simply can't absorb the numbers of younger employees seeking each type of employment. A stadium is not going to change this reality, other than at the margins for a few hundred people.
The government has lost two of its members, who now sit as independents, due to the lack of transparency of this deal, among a couple of others. They guaranteed supply and to not support a vote of no-confidence unless on significant, (and currently unknown) grounds, on the proviso the government release information from various departments, such as Treasury, provided to the government to guide its decision. The reports haven't been provided yet. The independents are increasingly vocal and angry. The government is in minority. Parliament is in winter recess until August. It appears the government will not release the information because it will show Treasury did not support the deal. Why else not provide it to the public?
So, Parliament will resume in August and, based on a fairly well established pattern of behavior for this government, will stick to its guns and fall over. We have the world's best electoral system here, called Hare -Clark, which is a proportional representative system for each of our five electorates. The next election also means we will have restored the numbers back to where they historically have been, that is, 7 members elected for each electorate, making a total of 35. Currently there are 25, so government at present only required 13 members from one party. No-one is sure what a restored house of 35 members will mean, other than to form government will require 18 members.
The electorate demographics indicate no party will get those numbers, not even close, so one of the two major parties will require the support of Green/independents. The Liberals have been in office here for more than a decade, so have probably run out of time. The Premier is a decent, honourable and principled bloke compared to most politicians, but he is head and shoulders above the vast majority of his colleagues. If he resigns there is a huge vacuum in that party and they are likely to lose, not gain, the seats necessary to form government. Ditto the Labor party. Excellent leader but very shallow below her.
In summary, expect an election sooner rather than later and for whoever forms government to bitterly resent the AFL's demands and want to renegotiate the terms. The AFL to resist, the stalemate alone will sink the deal. No team in Tassie as things currently stand.
look, you're even doing it yourself. Accusing me of shifting goal posts but then here you are rattling off an entire decade of results when from the start my comment was about the worst performance in a single season.
