Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind the member for Lalor and the member for Canberra that there was a back-of-the-envelope calculation with the former Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, and Mr Conroy, on the NBN, which was totally fanciful. What we have done in the last two years is bring the project back into some sort of good order. NBN connections in my community of Tasmania have topped 100,000 premises. That compares to only 32,000 premises at the time of the September 2013 election. By the end of next year, Tasmania will be one of the few places in Australia that is fully networked when it comes to the NBN. We have made great strides in a project that the Labor Party did not initiate in any sort of reasonable way, so if we are going to talk about partisan politics and petty point-scoring I would remind members opposite of that.

I acknowledge my wife, Christine, and daughter Julia, in the gallery today. I thank them for their love and support. I also welcome them so that I can provide an update on recent developments in my electorate of Bass, where the coalition government continues to make inroads into addressing key priorities.

I note in particular the announcement by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Tasmania just a couple of weeks ago, about a $72 million boost for the Tasmanian economy. Some may recall that the coalition promised $16 million during the 2013 election towards the upgrade of Cadbury's tourism activities. But in March this year Cadbury's parent company cancelled the project. That money has now been redirected to a $24 million co-investment fund, with $16 million from the federal government and $8 million from the state government, with successful applicants required to put in $2 themselves for every dollar put into the fund. What that does is leverage, potentially, $72 million of new investment in job-creating projects for Tasmania. Applications will be encouraged from all industry sectors, but there will be an emphasis on tourism, agriculture, aquaculture and advanced manufacturing, which, Madam Deputy Speaker, I know is a priority for you in Corangamite as well.

These are areas of particular strength in Tasmania, and it reinforces the message that Tasmania is open for business. Detailed funding guidelines will be developed over coming months, with the aim being to open applications before the end of the year. This announcement is undoubtedly a huge boost for Tasmania. It is a great example of state and federal governments working together to promote economic growth and create more local jobs.

I am also pleased to inform the House that on 7 September I officially opened the new-look Invermay Park sporting facility in Launceston. The federal government's partnership with the city of Launceston has delivered this important upgrade for one of Launceston's traditional sporting precincts. It is a multi-user facility, and the place where the boy from Mowbray, former Australian test cricket captain, Ricky Ponting, started his career. Generations of Launceston sportsmen and sportswomen have started their career at this beautiful ground, and with new lighting and new drainage it is going to serve future generations of sportspeople in Tasmania. Like this wonderful upgrade to Invermay Park, the benefits of this investment will flow to the people of northern Tasmania for many years to come.

Very close to Invermay Park is the site of our new $9 billion North Bank redevelopment. At the moment it is a dirty and disgusting industrial site. We are going to turn that into a beautiful, family friendly facility, which will enhance our riverfront and make our city turn back to the river. When we couple that with the $3 million that we have put in for a cleaner Tamar River, the private sector investment from Errol Stewart and his Silos development and Joe Chromy and his development at the Penny Royal, it will be a riverfront that our city can be truly proud of.

It is even more exciting to see the environmental and economic outcomes that will result from this investment. The North Bank project itself will have an economic impact of $12.35 million in private sector investments. I mentioned Errol Stewart's Silos Hotel, at $15 million, and the rowing precinct expansion, estimated at $2.2 million. That means a total of $35.57 million in local expenditure. The federal government has made this major investment in Tasmania as part of our economic growth plan. It is a plan that is working and it is a plan that will enhance the future prosperity of my community in northern Tasmania.