Lisa Singh

The Hodgman and Abbott-Turnbull Liberal governments plan for Tasmanian infrastructure is big promises and little action.

The Abbott-Turnbull government has failed to deliver $92 million that it promised to invest in Tasmania’s railways and roads in the past three years.

The cuts include $67 million promised for major roads, $28 million for rail and $3.5 million for the Black Spot road safety program, which delivers safety upgrades to sites of serious traffic accidents.

So, the Federal government is (a) misleading Tasmanians about its actual commitment to improving the state’s infrastructure, or (b) too incompetent to roll out promised projects.

There is no (c).

This deception is aggravated by the Hodgman government’s ineptitude and inability to get anything done on the Bridgewater Bridge project, which has been stalled since the government’s election in 2014.

During Senate Estimates this week, Infrastructure officials confirmed that while they understood the Bridgewater Bridge was a Tasmanian priority, it had not yet been approved or agreed to by the Turnbull government.

The officials stated the department had yet to receive any plans or business case from the Hodgman state Liberal government, which was confirmed by Liberal Senator for Tasmania David Bushby on ABC radio this morning

‘…I think it is probably a fair thing to say that a business case has not yet been presented to infrastructure Australia for a Bridgewater Bridge…’ – Senator David Bushby, Mornings with Leon Compton, 936 ABC Radio Hobart, Thursday 26 October 2017.

In fact, during estimates questioning, the same officials admitted they did not know whether the Hodgman government had even committed “sufficient funding” to put towards the Bridgewater bridge project!

The Hodgman government is cut from same shabby conservative cloth as its Federal counterpart – promising investment, failing to follow through with actual spending, and hoping no-one will notice.

Unfortunately for both liberal governments, Tasmanians have noticed and quite rightly they feel let down by both administrations.

Tasmania needs increased rail and road investment to provide jobs and economic activity in the short and medium term and to lift productivity in the long term.

Labor has a strong and consistent record of delivery when it comes to infrastructure investment in Tasmania.

Over six years the former Labor Federal Government increased per capita infrastructure investment from $157 per Tasmanian to $264 per Tasmanian.

Labor’s actions speak for themselves.

THURSDAY, 26 OCTOBER, 2017

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