Industry leaders voice support for Mac Point stadium

Master Builders Tasmania chief executive Matthew Pollock said Hobart's Mac Point project was the key to the building industry's future.

"Once the Bridgewater Bridge project is finished in 2025 there are no major construction projects on the horizon," Mr Pollock said.

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"The Mac Point project is the natural next step for our industry and would unlock massive benefits for the whole State."

Mr Pollock said the project is something that was sorely needed for Tasmania's construction industry.

"The last thing that we want to see is after all the great work that we've done over the last few years to build the workforce, is to see that workforce go elsewhere because we don't have the major projects here to keep most people," Mr Pollock said.

"We don't want to go back to the days of the 90s and early 2000s where we trained a lot of people in this state to go and work on major projects in Melbourne and Sydney."

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Shadow Construction Minister Jen Butler said Labor supported a consistent pipeline of projects to ensure the building sector was 'not subject to peaks & troughs.'

"Tasmanian Labor does not support a billion-dollar taxpayer funded stadium when there are far more pressing priorities for Tasmania, such as fixing the housing crisis," Ms Butler said.

Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania chief executive officer Luke Martin said the project went beyond the stadium.

"It's about a meaningful purpose for this site that we've been talking about for a decade," Mr Martin said.

"And about bulletproofing the future of our industries, largely the tourism, hospitality, building and construction industry."

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He said Tasmania faced a massive skills crisis.

"Our challenge is to get more young Tasmanians to see long-term and meaningful careers in tourism and hospitality.

"And we know the stadium will bring $150 million of extra visitor spending, which will bring on new hotels that will encourage existing operators to expand."

Ms Butler said Labor wanted to see apprentices employed to build the 'thousands of homes that Tasmanian's desperately need.'

"The Liberals have had a decade to fix the housing crisis and if they haven't fixed it by now they never will," Ms Butler said.

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