Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I take this opportunity to ask the minister some questions in relation to expenditure on transport and infrastructure in the budget appropriations. There have been some great investments in Tasmania under this Labor government—about $1.9 billion. That has been great for lifting the infrastructure which is so urgently needed and for creating great jobs. The electorate of Lyons is 50 per cent of the state of Tasmania and has most of the great highway between the south and the north. I am often referred to as 'the honest broker in the middle' and it is a title I enjoy wearing. The minister might like to outline the $500 million announced in the latest package for work on the Midland Highway and also the Launceston bypass. Planning for the new Bridgewater bridge is continuing. There is the upgrading of the Mona Vale and St. Peters Pass, one of the oldest passes in Tasmania. There is quite a bit of activity around Mona Vale—I see there is a cherry farm in that area—and between Mangalore and Bagdad. In the north towards Launceston, just past my electorate office in Perth the highway is being duplicated and upgraded between Perth and the Launceston airport roundabout. They are urgently needed upgrades, which have been put aside for too long.

When you come to Tasmania you can see much work going on in infrastructure, with all the water pipes for the Midlands Irrigation Scheme sitting beside the highway. Down in the Colebrook sportsground you can see the rail sleepers for the upgrading of the rail at Rhyndaston and there are plenty of bulldozers. With the great work done on the Brighton bypass, that town is now in the biggest growth area in Tasmania. So Minister, I ask you how you see those areas and that infrastructure coming together with the $1.9 million this government has put into infrastructure in Tasmania.

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