Tasmania's only university faces "financial implications" from a Liberal government election promise to keep the educator at its current suburban location.
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The University of Tasmania has faced criticism over its proposed move from its home at Sandy Bay in Hobart to the city's CBD.
The Liberals, aiming to govern for a fourth term at the March 23 poll, announced they would introduce legislation to ensure the university cannot sell or lease land at the Sandy Bay campus without the explicit support of both houses of parliament.
"This is a change we're making to ensure our really important university stays in place," Liberal MP Madeleine Ogilvie said on Tuesday.
"We are keen to work with the community and the university to build up our important education institution where it is."
Ms Ogilvie said university leaders were told about the policy on Monday night.
"They obviously have some plans. No doubt they want to discuss those. My message is, I'm here to help," she said.
The university released detailed concept plans for the move in 2021, including building 2500 homes on its Sandy Bay land.
The university has grown its presence in the CBD in recent years and refurbished a building.
"We look forward to seeing the detail on this policy announcement and understanding the legal, planning and financial implications," a university spokesman said.
The Liberals, however, also said they respect the rights of the university to establish new facilities in the CBD and elsewhere.
In 2022, a poll of voters in conjunction with a council election in Hobart found 74 per cent of people were against the university's CBD move.
Ms Ogilvie pointed out the land at Sandy Bay had been gifted to the university in the 1950s.
The Liberals are facing increasing competition from independents for votes in the electorate of Clark, where the university is located.
They are without their 2021 election top vote-getter in Clark, resigned former attorney-general Elise Archer.
Mike Foster, co-chair of SaveUTAS, which has campaigned for the campus to remain at Sandy Bay, said both major parties had put the future of the university at risk.
"Some expert analysts say the debt taken on by (the university) for relocation will inevitably impact on teaching and research," he said in a statement.
"Hundreds of millions of dollars have been squandered on this ill-conceived relocation project."
Labor leader Rebecca White said the timing of the announcement was the Liberals "thinking about themselves".
Australian Associated Press
