1h agoWed 3 Dec 2025 at 11:20pm
Live coverage of day two of Hobart stadium debate and vote
Welcome to the ABC’s coverage of the second day of the debate and vote in Tasmania’s parliament on the order to approve — or deny — the order to build the Hobart’s stadium.
On Tuesday, enough YES votes were secured to ensure the order will be approved and the stadium built at Macquarie Point.
That also means the Tasmania Devils AFL/AFLW team will come into existence and take the field in the national competition, because the team’s entry to the league was conditional on the arena being constructed.
Despite the YES vote being secured, today will feature more debate and voting.
We will also feature the reaction to the news — as well as explain what the project will involve.
3m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 12:45am
What will the stadium look like?
Now that we know that stadium is going to be going ahead, let’s have a look at what it will actually look like — if it’s built according to the current designs.
Safe to say it will be big and change the Hobart skyline in ways that thrill some, and horrify others.
(Supplied: Macquarie Point Development Corporation)
In the following article, we took some officially released images of what the Macquarie Point stadium is proposed to look like once built and merged them with images at the same location.
It gives a good indication of what impact it will have on the Hobart skyline…
11m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 12:37am
Kerry Vincent could miss today’s vote
In the opening proceedings today, it’s been revealed that Liberal MLC Kerry Vincent has been granted a leave of absence and potentially won’t be taking part in the vote today.
Our understanding is that it’s due to him being unwell.
Mr Vincent was one of the YES votes for the stadium, but his potential absence isn’t expected to impact the outcome of the vote.
Kerry Vincent speaking during yesterday’s debate. (Supplied: Parliament of Tasmania)12m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 12:35am
Fight not over, opponents say
In the wash up of yesterday’s stadium debate, some critics of the project have come out to signal a ‘YES’ vote will not end their opposition.
“While the stadium may pass the parliament, the fight against it is only gearing up. Groups are already forming to fight this proposal in new ways. People are angry,” Roland Browne from the Our Place opponents group said on Tuesday, before the votes fell in favour of the project going ahead.
“Parliament can permit the stadium to be built, but it cannot legislate reality to be different. And at some point reality will doom this unaffordable stadium.
“The Gunns’ pulp mill was approved by parliament in 2007. It was never built. And Gunns does not exist any longer, either.”
23m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 12:24am
Proceedings back under way in the Legislative Council
We’re back under way in the upper house for today’s proceedings, which will all be building up to the official vote this afternoon.
Tania Rattray, an independent who is the Leader for the Government in the Legislative Council, has thanked her fellow council members for the “marathon effort” that occurred yesterday.
She’s currently running through some comments which were mentioned in the various speeches and clarifying the government’s position on various issues.
(Supplied: Parliament of Tasmania)25m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 12:23am
Meg Webb speaks for three and a half hours
One of the most notable moments of the debate as it stretched on overnight was the final speech — which came from Meg Webb.
Long after the outcome was essentially confirmed and perhaps even some of the most passionate spectators had drifted off, the independent delivered a three-and-a-half-hour effort.
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During the speech, which finally concluded at 2:30am, Ms Webb laid into the proposed project and the impacts it will have on Tasmania’s precarious financial position.
“A yes vote is an end to precious things about our capital city which once gone can never be recovered,” Ms Webb said.
“This decision today will tell us a lot about who we are — are we willing here to approve and reward this disparagement and dismissal of independent experts who have provided evidence based on factual information and recommendations?
“Are we willing here to approve this precedent setting abandonment of goof governance, accountability and integrity in decision-making?
“I hope instead for our own sense of self-worth an integrity that we are willing to stand up for our state for the fabric of our democracy.”
If you can’t tell from that, Ms Webb is not a fan of the proposed stadium and confirmed she would be voting NO.
Meg Webb said a vote to support the stadium was an “end to precious things” about Hobart, which “can never be recovered”. (Supplied: Parliament of Tasmania)36m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 12:12am
What is expected today?
Upper House MPs will go through the stadium order section by section. They’re able to make speeches, and ask questions of government officials.
We’re expecting that will take a while, but hopefully not go for as long as yesterday.
My personal prediction is that a vote will be held either late this afternoon or tonight.
At that point, it becomes official, bar the paperwork.
38m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 12:09am
What happened overnight?
We wrapped up our live coverage of the debate in the upper house at about 5:30pm yesterday, but the speeches continued long into the night.
Those speakers were pretty much all politicians who had already publicly stated how they would vote, but let’s run through them just for good measure.
Following the closure of our live blog, Labor MLC Luke Edmunds reiterated that he would be voting YES, as did Liberal MLC Kerry Vincent.
Labor MLC Luke Edmunds confirmed he would be voting in favour of the stadium order during his speech. (Supplied: Parliament of Tasmania)
Liberal MLC Jo Palmer followed this up with confirmation of her own planned YES vote, before Labor MLC Sarah Lovell did the same.
The wave of support continued with Liberal MLC Nick Duigan, but was finally brought to end when independent MLC Rosemary Armitage gave her speech and confirmed she would be voting NO.
Liberal MLC Nick Duigan, who is also the Minister for Sport, spoke of his support for the project in yesterday’s debate. (Supplied: Parliament of Tasmania)
Independent MLC Mike Gaffney’s speech ran from about 9pm to 11pm, during which he confirmed he would also be voting NO.
This was followed by a more than three-hour speech from independent Meg Webb, centred around her intentions to vote NO — which concluded at about 2:30am.
Mike Gaffney confirmed he would be voting against the order, in one of the final speeches last night. (Supplied: Parliament of Tasmania)
That what the final speech of the proceedings, with each member of the upper house having now spoken to the order and indicated how they plan to cast their official vote.
For those following along at home, there will be nine YES votes and five NO votes — meaning the stadium is a shoe-in.
42m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 12:05am
How will the stadium be paid for?
That is the billion-dollar question.
My ABC colleague Adam Holmes looked at what was said in parliament yesterday, which revealed some details about the plan to find the money for this massive project.
Borrowings by Tasmanian government businesses will be reduced by $500 million over the coming three years to accommodate the debt needed for the Macquarie Point stadium in Hobart.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff and Treasurer Eric Abetz confirmed the reduction in a letter to independent Dean Harriss, along with an agreement to find “additional revenues” ahead of the May budget.
Mr Harriss interpreted this as meaning that “state taxes and charges will increase”, and used the commitment as a basis for his support for the stadium.
Read more about how the need to pay for the stadium could impact services across the state, in this article:
47m agoThu 4 Dec 2025 at 12:00am
Your comments
The comments are already coming in, here are a few:
BRUCE
Any approval of this bottomless pit cannot be known until (a) tenders are called and received, and (b) the total costs of the project, never admitted by the proponents, is finally known. The whole approval process has been skewed it its favour, and our vacuous upper House MPs seem unable to either recognise that, or reverse it. It will be scant satisfaction to opponents when the true costs emerge, with which ALL Tasmanians will have to manage.
Bill
ABC News today, “Borrowings by Tasmanian government businesses will be reduced by $500 million over the coming three years to accommodate the debt needed for the Macquarie Point stadium in Hobart.” That did not take long, what about the significant debt we already have??
50m agoWed 3 Dec 2025 at 11:58pm
Who is for and who is against the stadium?
The Tasmanian government needed eight out of 15 votes for the $1.13 billion stadium to pass the upper house.
The project had already been approved by the lower house, with the Tasmanian Liberals and Labor Opposition being in favour and voting for it.
While the official vote tally is yet to be taken, the members of the upper house, officially known as the Legislative Council, have spoken well into last night, signalling how they will vote.
For the project:
Luke EdmundsSarah LovellKerry VincentJo PalmerNick DuiganDean HarrissCasey HiscuttBec ThomasTania Rattray
Against the project:
Ruth ForrestMeg WebbMike GaffneyCassy O’ConnorRosemary Armitage
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