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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged the Tasmanian government to “get on with” developing prime land on Hobart’s waterfront that he poured tens of millions of dollars into when he was last in government a decade ago.
The federal and state Labor governments signed an agreement to develop Macquarie Point in 2012, with Mr Albanese, then the infrastructure minister, committing $50 million towards remediating the site.
Visiting Hobart on Wednesday, Mr Albanese described progress over the past 10 years as “appalling”.
“It was an exciting proposal that was put forward at the time,” he said.
“It was one that I as minister, with responsibility for cities and urban policy, embraced because what I saw Macquarie Point as doing was having the same potential that an area like Barangaroo has in Sydney or Southbank in Melbourne.
“The fact that Macquarie Point at the moment is an eyesore … we can do so much better.”
Macquarie Point is a 9.3-hectare site near Hobart’s waterfront and CBD.
In its history, it has served as a gasworks, slaughter yard, lumber yard, railway depot and sewage treatment plant — and has required extensive remediation to allow for development.
In 2021, the Macquarie Point Development Corporation announced the successful tenderer for the development of part of the site into visitor and residential accommodation and recently announced a local brewing company would redevelop events space The Goods Shed.
Short-term “activations” — such as a community vegetable garden and bike path — have also been announced over the past several years.
It came after Mr Barnett announced an independent review into the site off the back of allegations in parliament of staff bullying and inappropriate spending.
Ms Massina was last week cleared in a separate internal grievance process.
On Wednesday, Mr Barnett said it was too soon to answer whether Ms Massina would receive a payout upon her July exit from the organisation.
“She’s still working for the Macquarie Point Development Corporation, she’s on leave at the moment, so that question is premature,” Mr Barnett said.
