The proponents behind the second Hobart waterfront stadium want to reach an agreement with the state government by Christmas in order to retain support from key investors. Premier Jeremy Rockliff, however, has said the government will require more assurances and a clear plan for the project, which has been pitched as an alternative to its own Macquarie Point stadium. The $2.3 billion plan from Stadia Precinct Consortia is to involve a 23,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof, 450 apartments with a waterfront view, a convention centre, a hotel, a private hospital, a 5000-space underground car park, and retail outlets and restaurants. Spokesmen for the consortium, Dean Coleman and Paul Lennon appeared before parliament's public accounts committee on Friday to answer questions about the project. Mr Lennon said it had been made clear to them that top-tier investors needed to see the government had a certain level of seriousness in the project, to be developed under a public-private partnership. He said these investors were not interested in the Macquarie Point Development Corporation proposal as they could not see how the private sector could be involved. "So until the premier is prepared to respond to the letter that we provided to him on the 16th of October in a manner that provides comfort to the tier-one financial players, primarily based in Sydney, then we are not able to answer the big question on everyone's minds and that is 'how is it to be funded?'." "To get people interested in a project of this size, they need to see that there's a level of commitment from government." Mr Coleman said they wanted to see the government commit to a memorandum of understanding, which would set out the terms for interaction between the government and financial partners in the project, in the next eight weeks. He said under a public-private partnership, the public spend would be capped - at $750 million - which would mean cost price increases would be borne by the consortium. Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the government remained open-minded about the alternative stadium proposal. "I'm very pleased that there is interest and the proponents of stadium two, as it's known, will need to do their due diligence and come back to the government with a very clear plan," he said. "There are key aspects to the stadium two proposal, in terms of investment in housing and a private hospital and other matters, and so that will need to tick a number of assurances." Mr Rockliff said the government was still committed to the Macquarie Point Development Corporation's stadium proposal and expected its assessment as a project of state significance to soon start once legislation passed in the upper house.