14 November 2025

ust minutes after speaking at a Christmas charity event where volunteers shared heartbreaking stories of children sleeping in cars and families going hungry, the Premier urged Parliament to approve billions of dollars for a new AFL stadium at Macquarie Point.

During the charity event, the Premier stood alongside community members and expressed sympathy for Tasmania’s growing homelessness and hunger crisis. Volunteers explained how they are forced to raise every dollar themselves to feed and shelter those in need.

“The Premier literally walked out on hungry and homeless children and walked straight into a billion-dollar deal that this state cannot afford,” said Nala Mansell, Campaign Coordinator.

“Tasmania is in a housing and cost-of-living crisis. People are dying on waiting lists, kids are living in tents, and volunteers are holding communities together with bake sales and charity tins. Yet the Government’s priority is a football stadium. It’s a complete slap in the face to the hundreds of people across the state doing it tough.”

“Macquarie Point is the only block of land anywhere in central Nipaluna with the potential for an Aboriginal owned and operated cultural centre,” Ms Mansell said. “We are sick of being offered nothing but false hope and empty promises by this Government.

“If they are serious about returning stolen lands to their rightful owners, they should show it in practice by devoting this land to truth and culture, not football and concerts.”

The community has made its opposition clear in submissions to the Tasmanian Planning Commission’s Integrated Assessment Report. But once again, the voices of the people especially Aboriginal voices have been ignored.

We demand that the Tasmanian Government:

  • Stop the Macquarie Point Stadium project immediately.
  • Invest in homes, food security, and community services instead.
  • Return our lands and honour the promises made to Aboriginal people.

The people of Lutruwita deserve homes before stadiums. We deserve compassion before concrete. And we deserve leaders who put people before politics.

Nala Mansell

Campaign Manager