A political storm is brewing over the Tasmanian government's plans to effectively block the state's only university relocating to central Hobart.
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The University of Tasmania, or UTAS, wants to move from its home at Sandy Bay in Hobart to the city's CBD.
In the lead-up to the May state election, the Liberals pledged to introduce legislation to ensure the university could not sell or lease land at the campus without the explicit support of both houses of parliament.
The legislation was tabled in June after the Liberals secured a fourth successive term in office.
Opposition Leader Dean Winter on Tuesday announced Labor would oppose the change, branding the legislation an "embarrassment" as well as anti-development and anti-education.
"The Liberals plan to team up with the Lambies and the Greens to put a handbrake on UTAS, freezing the university's assets and preventing any development on its vacant land in Sandy Bay," he said.
"It is the worst of cynical politics and awful policy that will place our university at serious financial risk and scare investors away."
The Tasmanian Greens welcomed Labor taking a definitive position on the issue, but said the announcement would underwhelm many people in the state.
"It will disappoint and further disaffect a community that has been consistently raising opposition to the development and sell-off of the Sandy Bay campus," Greens education spokeswoman Vica Bayley said.
The minor party argued the Sandy Bay campus should be maintained for educational purposes.
"Tasmanians need a university with certainty and focus, not a property developer gambling with public land and borrowed money," Ms Bayley said.
The university released detailed concept plans for the move in 2021, including building 2500 homes on its prime Sandy Bay land.
But a poll of voters in conjunction with a Hobart council election in 2022 found 74 per cent of people were against the university's CBD move.
Arts Minister Madeleine Ogilvie said Labor had betrayed the people of Hobart by refusing to publicly declare its position on the proposal before the election.
"Only now, comfortable in opposition and with four years until they face the voters, have they revealed they will defy the will of the overwhelming majority of residents of Hobart," the Liberal MP said.
"The government has a very clear election mandate to implement this policy."
She pointed out the land at Sandy Bay had been gifted to the university in the 1950s and insisted the legislation struck the right balance between protecting the public interest and respecting the university's right to set up new facilities in the CBD and elsewhere.
Australian Associated Press
