Stadium passes first debate, bigger test to come

The $1.13 billion project requires the approval of both houses of state parliament to proceed.

An order to build the stadium passed the lower house on Thursday night 25 votes to nine as expected with the support of the governing Liberals and Labor opposition. 

However, it faces a trickier passage in the upper house in early December when a handful of independent MPs will decide its fate. 

Premier Jeremy Rockliff, who signed the deal with the AFL, said the stadium represented an opportunity Tasmania could not afford to lose. 

"(The team) has been a long-held dream of many, many Tasmanians," he told parliament. 

"People will be aghast if we say no to what we've fought for ... for decades." 

Labor leader Josh Willie said his party would vote for the stadium, even though the Liberals' management of the project had been "abysmal" and the journey unnecessarily divisive.

"We do not trust the government to deliver, but that doesn't mean Tasmania should miss out on opportunities," Mr Willie said.

Mr Willie, whose party at one point said it would try to renegotiate the stadium deal if elected, said the AFL commission stood ready to pull the pin on the Devils if the venue wasn't built.

The stadium has split the community and drawn political battlelines amid budget debt set to double to $10 billion in 2028/29 and criticism the venue is not the right priority. 

Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff, whose party voted against the stadium, said the government had caved to the AFL for a shiny, vanity project.

"We have already more than earned the right to join the league, without the strings of a $1 billion stadium attached," she said. 

Anti-stadium independent Kristie Johnston said many Tasmanians couldn't afford the basics, and the state budget was in the same position. 

"When you are putting the groceries on the credit card … you shouldn't be buying a boat," she said.

Minister for Macquarie Point Urban Renewal Eric Abetz said if the stadium wasn't built, doors would be shut in the face of aspirational young people.

"Confidence will be shattered and our self-esteem as a state will be trashed," he said. 

"The message will be: don't try and do business in Tasmania."

Mr Abetz said the stadium could be like the Eiffel Tower, which was initially opposed by some but now beloved. 

Criticism of the state government's ability to deliver infrastructure, such as two new delayed and over-budget Spirit of Tasmania ferries, was a "fair cop", Mr Abetz said. 

"(But) if you fall over, does that mean you never get up again?" he said. 

The AFL has maintained a "no stadium, no team" mantra. 

The state will contribute $375 million in capital to the stadium, the Commonwealth $240 million and the AFL $15 million, with the remainder to be state borrowings.

The state's planning commission has recommended the project not go ahead because its costs outweighed the benefits and it was not the right fit for the waterfront heritage area.

Dean Harriss and Bec Thomas, upper house independents on which the vote could be determined, recently raised concerns about the stadium's cost.

The government faces financial penalties if the venue is not ready by the club's second season in 2029.