Tasmanian Liberals say they will try to keep University of Tasmania at Sandy Bay campus if they win majority government

tasmanian liberals say they will try to keep university of tasmania at sandy bay campus if they win majority government

The Tasmanian Liberals say they have “listened to the public” who they say want the University of Tasmania to stay at the Sandy Bay campus. (ABC News: Loretta Lohberger)

The Tasmanian Liberals have promised to work to “keep the University of Tasmania in Sandy Bay” if elected in majority at next month’s election.

“We will amend the University of Tasmania Act 1992 to require that land at Sandy Bay currently held by the University of Tasmania cannot be sold except with the explicit support of both Houses of Parliament,” the Liberals’ Clark candidates said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

“The current site of the University of Tasmania was gifted by the people of Tasmania to the university in 1951.”

In 2021, the university released the first detailed concept plans for its move into central Hobart.

The plans included the building of 2,500 homes on the old Sandy Bay campus, as well as a tourism precinct and new sporting facilities, after the move.

The university has already expanded its presence in central Hobart, buying up several buildings, including the old forestry building on Melville Street, which is undergoing a $131 million refurbishment.

Many classes have already moved to the city.

In response to the Liberal policy announcement, a UTAS spokesperson said: “We look forward to seeing the detail on this policy announcement and understanding the legal, planning and financial implications.”

UTAS vice-chancellor Rufus Black has previously said the university planned to sell long leases for the former campus, rather than sell the land itself.

The Liberals have clarified that their policy would seek to stop any changes from educational use for the land, which would mean both leases and sales for other uses would be blocked unless both houses of parliament voted to approve it.

During the 2022 local government elections, voters in the Hobart council area were polled on their support for the university’s move — 74 per cent voted against the move.

The university paused its whole Sandy Bay plan after the elector poll and was waiting until the council had finished a structure plan for Sandy Bay and neighbouring Mount Nelson.

The university’s planned move requires the council to rezone the Sandy Bay campus from “educational” to “mixed” use.

UTAS says its plan was to remain stewards of the greater majority of the site, to develop it over time in a way that aligned with community and university principles.

While in government the Liberals had stayed out of the relocation debate, until now, with an election on March 23.

“The decision to relocate the southern UTAS campus — and how that may align with the university’s educational priorities — is a matter for the University of Tasmania as a private organisation,” Premier Jeremy Rockliff said in October 2022.

The University of Tasmania is a public university.

Liberals say law change ‘strikes the right balance’

The Liberals’ Clark candidates — Mohammad Aldergham, Emma Atterbury, Simon Behrakis, Jon Gourlay, Madeleine Ogilvie, Catherine Searle and Marcus Vermey — said the original University of Tasmania Act from 1951 contained a provision to stop the university selling land at its Sandy Bay campus.

“This provision was removed by Labor when they amended the act in 1992,” they said.

“The Liberal Party respects the right of the university to establish new facilities in the Hobart CBD, and elsewhere if they wish.

“This arrangement strikes the right balance between protecting the public interest, and allowing the university to get on with their business — which is educating young Tasmanians.

“If elected, we will introduce legislation to this effect into the parliament within our first 100 days.”

The Tasmanian Greens also have a position of stopping the UTAS move.

Madeleine Ogilvie said it was “important both to the residents of Sandy Bay, the students, the staff and the university itself we have security and certainty going forward on this issue. And so we have acted as a party to make sure that happens”.

Simon Behrakis said the Liberal Party “respects the right of the university to expand their positioning into the CBD or wherever else, but the fact remains 74 per cent of people in Hobart, some 23,000 people made their views very, very clear on this in 2022 in the electorate, it’s something that’s been made very clear to me. And we have listened”.

‘Hundreds of millions of dollars have been squandered’ 

The co-chair of the Save UTAS Campus campaign, Mike Foster, said in a statement that UTAS chancellor Alison Watkins and vice-chancellor Rufus Black should resign.

“Hundreds of millions of dollars have been squandered on this ill-conceived relocation project,” he said.

“UTAS is presently wasting a further $130 million on what might be Hobart’s most extravagant refurbishment — a useless building in Melville Street which will be far from the campus and too small to be useful.

“All expenditure needs to stop.”

Mr Foster also said both the Liberal and Labor parties needed to take responsibility for the “debacle”.

“Having borrowed hundreds of millions for the project, UTAS needs to end its secrecy and open its books to reveal the state of its finances,” he said.

“That will enable the major parties to determine what financial support a future government will need to provide to restore teaching and research to optimum levels.”

Ben Lohberger, one of the founding members of Save UTAS Campus, yesterday launched his campaign to run as an independent candidate for Clark in the state election.

After the Liberal announcement on Tuesday morning, Mr Lohberger said the former government had “behaved disgracefully on this issue”.

“I really think the main thing they’re concerned about is getting votes for themselves to get into parliament,” he said.

“I mean, they weren’t concerned before the election and they haven’t been concerned for a long time.

“It’s also really disappointing that I’ve been fighting for seven years to try to stop this move and the Liberal Party, in my opinion, have been one of the biggest supporters of the move, but they’ve just been very quiet about it.

“I’ve had a look at their policy and it’s very clear that they will only do it if they win a majority government, and I think we all know that’s not going to happen.”

Sue Hickey, former lower house speaker and now independent candidate for Clark, worked as an ambassador in support of the UTAS move for the past two years.

She said that to expect students to go back to the “dead” Sandy Bay campus was “a joke”.

“And this is a campus that 50 per cent of the people have already moved on,” she said.

“So we’ve got more than, I think, 75 per cent of the land now is vacant, the buildings are mothballed.”

Ms Hickey believed the land would be better used for housing.

“As it has to go through both houses of parliament, if there is a need for housing and there is idle land in Sandy Bay and someone proposes that that is the best use for every public ratepayer, then that will happen.

“The [Liberal] policy is not going to prevent that land being sold if that is the outcome.”

Liberals ‘undermining business decisions and confidence’, Labor says

Labor leader Rebecca White criticised the Liberals’ lack of action on the issue over their years in government.

“What this signals to anybody investing in Tasmania is be careful if the Liberals are in charge, because what they’ve announced through this election period is a number of initiatives that really creates sovereign risk concerns,” she said.

“We should be most concerned about what the education outcomes are like for our kids in the state. Do we have the best university offering we can possibly give them? That should be the primary concern. I don’t see that being the primary concern of the Liberals here.

“That’s a real worry, because not only are they not putting students at the centre of their thinking, they’re actually undermining business decisions and confidence at a time when they all need certainty.”

‘Backward step,’ housing construction body says

In a statement, the Housing Industry Association (HIA), the body that represents the housing construction industry, said the Liberals’ policy was a “backward step in housing supply”.

“Attempts to block the release of the UTAS Sandy Bay campus for sensible residential development that could support a mix of housing, including medium density, presents a significant backward step in solving Tasmania’s housing supply issues,” HIA executive director for Tasmania Stuart Collins said.

“For many years, Tasmania’s demand for housing has not been met with sufficient supply, resulting in significant stresses on families and households in both the private and public housing market.

“Increasing supply is the key to addressing the housing and rental market problem and we need policies that support this.”

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