Sports and Events Minister Nic Street caught up with Brent straight after concept designs were released for Macquarie Point Stadium.
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SEN Tassie
Sports and Events Minister Nic Street (08/07/24)
Sergeant and Mrs. Smith, you're going to love this house. Is that a tub in the kitchen? There's no field manual for finding the right home. But when you do, USAA homeowners insurance can help protect it the right way. Restrictions apply. Right across Tasmania on SCM Tassie. This is the Devil's Advocate with Brent Castella. Follow us online at SCM Tassie and text anytime. 0 4 3 7, double 5 2 5 3 5. Great to have Principal Director of Cox Architecture, Alistair Richardson on the show. Another man that's played a key role in everything happening at McCurry Point is Sport and Events Minister Nick Street. I caught up with him post press conference yesterday and started by asking him how excited he was for these renders to be released. Yeah, look really excited at the release of these renders. I think they're a terrific example of what's going to be built here at Mac Point. Sympathetic to the surroundings, but also something that uniquely Tasmanian as well. And something that, as I said, will not only activate Mac Point, but activate Hobart and be something that Tasmania can be proud of. We've heard a lot about 2.0, which you think this puts that to bed today. Look, we've been clear that we're only concentrating on the development at this site. Not a development around the corner at the regatta grounds. My understanding from the media across the weekend is that they've submitted something to the Department of State growth. That's done at arms length from us for good reason. I haven't seen it and won't see it until the advice comes back. How much pressure do you feel in your role to get this right? It's such a big moment for Tasmania. Do you feel that? Look, I feel pressure to get it right because I know how important it is for the future of Tasmania. And we made the point as well. As exciting as this is for AFL and AFLW teams, it's about so much more than that. It's about the convention centre that opens up the business market. It's about the stage that's been built into the Northern end as well for concerts. It's about what it can do for the arts, community in Tasmania as well. So many different elements of the Tasmanian community can benefit from this if we get it right. So there is a pressure to get it right, but there's also an excitement that we're getting on with the job as well. What does that look like outside the stadium? We've heard a lot about it. Is it restaurants? Is it bars? Is it bowling alleys? I mean, the Tasmanian Football Museum would be a great fit, I think, too. Do you know what it looks like yet? Look, if you have a look at the renders that are available, there's four different areas to the west of the stadium renders that will be open for private investment. But we want to build something here that engages with the whole of the city and activates the city. So, yes, there might be more restaurants on site, but we want the restaurants in the Hobart CBD right now to benefit from the stadium as well. So it's about making sure that we build something here that connects to Constitution Dock, that connects to Salamanca, that activates the entire waterfront and benefits the entirety of Hobart. But importantly, it benefits the entirety of Tasmania as well. The ability to be able to bring events to Hobart because we've got the stadium, hopefully we'll have flow on effects for what we're doing in terms of the development at York Park in Launceston as well. That will be able to host more events as well. Wouldn't it be great if the fact that we've got this stadium in Hobart attracts an event to Hobart, but they also go to Launceston as well in the future because of it. We're standing here on the site now and I look over and I see the good shed there. What's your plan for the good shed? So, look, the good shed is going to be moved or relocated from its present site to the north of the stadium. We're starting to be able to see that on the renders as well. But much like the design of the stadium itself, it's been done in a really sympathetic manner. And as the architects pointed out, there were a number of these good sheds on the site when it was at full capacity as well. And so the architects have been very careful in terms of their placement of the good shed to the north, that it's in a place where there would have been a good shed in the past as well. So, acknowledges the history of the site, but will also be an important part of activating the shed in terms of the stadium design as well. And we look up on the hill and we see the centre-taff. How do you avoid interfering with the centre-taff, which is such an important place here in Tasmania? It's an incredibly important place for all Tasmanians. I know that Macquarie Point Development Corporation and the architects have worked closely with the RSL. They've met with them in the last couple of days as well. They've asked for a little bit more information. The Macquarie Point Development Corporation just made clear as well that they are continuing to work with the RSL. I think we've come up with a design that's sympathetic to the centre-taff. And to be clear, the Tasmanian Government wouldn't be interested in building something that wasn't sympathetic to the centre-taff as well, knowing how important it is to all Tasmanians. There's a concept designs that have been released, but are they accurate and will look like that on day one of the stadium, aren't you think? Yeah, look, I think the architects at Macquarie Point Development Corporation are pretty clear that whilst they are renders, that they are a pretty accurate depiction of what's going to be built on the site as well. So people can start to get a feel for what's actually going to be built here and not just some sort of nebulous potential design. As you said in your press conference, it's not just the people that will come to this stadium. It'll be on the world stage, on televisions right around the globe. I guess it's such an important thing, isn't it, for Tasmania, for the world to see as well? It is, and it's why the roof design is so important as well. I made the point in the press conference that if you're sitting in Marvel Stadium, you could effectively be sitting anywhere in any city in the world. When you sit in this stadium with that roof design, with a view to the mountain, with a view to the centre, if you'll know where you are sitting, and people when they're watching it on television will know that they're watching something that's being held in and uniquely Tasmanian Stadium as well. Minister Nick Street's my guest on the Devil's Advocate today. Minister, tell us about the importance of using Tasmanian materials when it comes to wood and all the things that will be used to build the stadium. Oh, look, the economic activity from this design is one of the things that we've been trying to push from the start. And as I said, in the press conference before as well, it's why Labor changed their position after the election on the stage because they recognise the importance of the jobs, the economic activity that will be generated from this site. So using Tasmanian Labor as much as possible, using Tasmanian products is going to be really important. Supposingly, it was something that Alistair from Cox Architects made clear as well, that they've been engaging with local firms already to make sure that we're using as much local product as possible. What about transport? One thing 2.0 was spruiking was a car park. That doesn't include a car park for Mach 1. How do you see all that working? Is it simply all about public transport? Yeah, look, we're going to have to improve the public transport in Hobart to make access to this stadium easy and efficient so that people will want to come here. But anybody who's been to the MCG in Melbourne will know that most people don't park at the MCG. They use public transport to get there. But importantly as well, what we want is for people to leave this stadium and actually go back into the Hobart's CBD and engage with those businesses as well, like I said. So it's important that we don't actually have too much. We don't want too many people coming to the stadium and parking and getting in their car and leaving. One of the problems with Blunston or Rainer is that it's such a drive-in drive-out arena that really, none of the surrounding businesses get any benefit from the events that are held there. That's not what we want for this. We want this stadium to engage with the CBD. So importantly, we want people to go back into the city after these events. That means that we need to get public transport right to bring them to the city so that they can make a short walk to the stadium for events as well. Round one, 20-29. It's a short timeframe, I suppose, to build a giant stadium. But are you confident it will get done in that timeframe? Look, I'm not a builder, but the people who are experts in this are confident in the timelines. Really looking forward to round one in 20-29, but even more than that, looking forward to round one in 20-28 when the Devils come into the competition, into the AFL competition, and hopefully the AFLW team will already be up and running by then. Did you ever consider as a government to bring the team in later to start in the new stadium and not play out of Blunston or Rainer? Look, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure where that conversation was held with the AFL or not. But you would know, in terms of it's so much more to it than just the round one's start date. The list-build that has to go on means that you need to work back from round one of the first game in terms of the list-build. The other clubs in the competition want certainty around whatever concessions are going to be provided to the Tasmanian team to list-build as well. And so, once round one of 20-28 was locked in for the start date, I don't think we've moved from that just in order to make sure that both the AFL and the other participants have got some certainty as well. I think the other thing people are sceptical on is the budget. How do you get this done inside $715 million? Look, again, the people are experts in this area are confident that they can get it done in the projected budget. What's important from the state government point of view is that we've committed that $375 million is the cap in terms of the state government contribution. We know that to activate the entire Mac Point Precic, we're going to need private investment. We'll now work through a process in terms of attracting that. But, pleasingly, we've already been approached by private consortiums that are really, really interested in what sort of involvement they can have, not just in the precinct, but in Hobart as well. That was my next question about private investment. It's going to be so important, isn't it? It is, but when you see renders and designs like that, they're so exciting, you can understand why we've already had private consortiums on the phone and wanting to meet with us to discuss their involvement in investing in the precinct. For our listeners that don't know how it works, can you explain as much as you know about the project of state significance and how it operates from here? Look, the Macquarie Point Development Corporation are leading the project to state significance. They're the best ones to talk to about that, but they're very confident that they'll have a package together to submit for assessment under the project to state significance timeline within a month or so, I believe. We'll allow that process to go forward and then we'll deal with the outcome. What about the High Performance Center? It's such a crucial moment in that as well, with Cambridge Steel in the mix. It's fair to say, the preference for the Footy Club Steel Rosney Parklands. What's your opinion on that at this stage? Look, we announced the Rosney size of the preferred site late last year and that hasn't changed, but we made clear when we made that announcement that we'd continue to do the due diligence at both sites because there was more work to do and we wanted to have a second option if we needed it. At this stage, nothing's changed. Rosney's still the preferred site. There is work going on down at Kingston if we need it to occur, but we will keep working through that process with both the Clarence Council and with the Football Club. We know how important the High Performance Facility is, not just in attracting players from interstate, but retaining them as well. Players expect the world's best facilities to train and prepare in there. That's exactly what we plan to build at either site. How important is it to have somewhere like Cambridge ready to push go on if you need it? It's a handy backup, isn't it? Look, it's imperative that we have a backup because the timelines are as tight on the High Performance Center as they are on the stadium. We're going to be starting to build this list in the very near future. When you're talking to potential players that we want to bring here for around 2020-2028, they're going to want to know exactly what they're going to be training in and preparing themselves in. A couple more before I let you go. How real does this feel now to you? Like the stadium renders are out, the footy club is doing a great job and CEO is appointed, Kath's doing multiple things in her role. You must be excited. Look, I've got to be honest, it's felt real for a while. It's felt real since May last year, when Gil made the announcement up at North Hobart, but it felt even more real with the release of the first membership package. 192,000 people just re-affirmed the opinion of all of us who've supported Tasmania to continue the competition for so long, build it and they will come and the support for the team has been exactly what we imagined it would be. So, yeah, it is real. Tasmania are going to be in the AFL and the AFL-WAs. They should be as they should have been for the last 25 years. And it's something that Tasmania should be incredibly excited about, and something that obviously this means is for sport I'm incredibly excited about. Last one might be the most important, you're a Brisbane Lions supporter, where your allegiances lie around 1-20-29. In round 1-20-28, when we're actually coming to the competition... Sorry, I've got to be honest, as a kid they gave me so much heartache, but as a young adult they gave me so much joy that I think it's going to be hard to give up some form of membership for the Brisbane Lions as well. But Olberts has managed to support it from round 1-20-28. Thanks very much for your time, Minister Nick Streit. No last night. Sport and Events Minister Nick Streit joining me on the show. Plenty happening, of course, at Macquarie Point will be right across any developments as they happen here on the Devil's Advocate. We're off to our final break now, coming back to whip around the country to see how our Tassie players fared over the weekend. Thanks to Battery World here on the Devil's Advocate.