Build houses, not stadiums
Stop the stadium. Fund homes now.
Tonight, dozens of tents and caravans line the riverbank behind the Silo hotel. Their occupants – our neighbors – are enduring another freezing Tasmanian winter without proper shelter. Meanwhile, our government plans to spend hundreds of millions on a third AFL stadium.
We don’t need another stadium. We need homes.
Tasmania’s 550,000 residents already have two AFL-grade stadiums. What we desperately lack is housing. The facts are stark: there are no affordable rentals – zero – available for anyone on Youth Allowance or JobSeeker[1]. Even a single parent working full-time on minimum wage can access less than 1% of available three-bedroom rentals.
Our state’s housing crisis is the worst in the nation. Rents have surged 45% in just five years[2] – the highest increase in Australia, hitting hardest in our state where incomes are already the lowest. Hobart has seen the highest increase in homelessness of any Australian capital[3] since the last census. It’s also now the most unaffordable capital city for everyday living expenses.
Your voice can change this.
The $715 million stadium budget could house thousands of Tasmanians. Instead of building a third stadium, we could create hundreds of social housing units, fund emergency accommodation, and develop long-term affordable housing solutions.
We could build 1,000 homes, plus a swimming pool, plus a relocated State Library, on the exact same site. And it would cost half the price.[4]
What Tasmanians need is clear:
- Homes, not stadiums
- A living income that covers rent
- A healthcare system where people don’t die while ramped
- Schools with resources to teach our children to read
Take action now
Politicians might not care about spending money when it’s yours, but they care about losing their jobs. It’s up to us to show them that we’re paying attention, and we care about this, and if they go down this path, it’s going to cost them more than nearly $1 billion of your money: it’ll cost them their jobs.
Sign our petition. Share it with every Tasmanian you know. Email your MP using our template. Because every day we delay, our window to stop a massive mistake gets smaller.