Justine Keay (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I briefly spoke in this place on the issue of the Tasmanian government failing to stand up for our state and lobby the Commonwealth for funding for the Cradle Mountain Master Plan development, a $160 million project. This plan is a number one infrastructure project for our region and Tasmania's tourism industry. A response to a question taken on notice during Senate estimates shows this failure. The response showed that Premier Will Hodgman has failed to make a single representation to the Commonwealth body for the project.

Another response shows the Hodgman government has failed to make any representations to the Commonwealth for another crucial local infrastructure project, a network of shared coastal pathways along the north-west coast of Tasmania. The shared coastal pathway is a fantastic opportunity for our region to connect towns, enhance our lifestyle, attract visitors and drive new small businesses. There is a perverse irony that Premier Hodgman is also Tasmania's tourism minister. It is a dereliction of his duty as tourism minister that he has not gone in to bat for Tasmania's tourism infrastructure. He is failing our region.

But now more written answers have revealed more failures, where this Premier and his government have let Braddon down. The Bass Highway is our region's economic lifeline. It runs from Marrawah to Launceston carrying freight, tourists, buses and local traffic. It also connects passengers, vehicles and freight from the Spirit of Tasmania ships to the rest of the state. Just past where the Spirit docks, the Bass Highway runs through Latrobe. At Latrobe the community has taken up a petition to try and address local road safety issues. It is simply unsafe turning on and off the highway in and out of local businesses. Over 1,000 signatures were gathered by local business proprietors, Ian and Trudy Hill. The Latrobe Council has told me the development of their industrial estate is also being hampered by unsafe access.

There is a simple solution to this issue. The state government has surplus Commonwealth funds from another project on the highway that can be reallocated to Latrobe. All that is required is for the state to make a submission to the Commonwealth for the funds to be reallocated, but do you think the Hodgman government has got off its backside and made a submission? The answer, from questions taken on notice during Senate estimates as to whether this has happened, was one word—no.

How long is it going to take for this lazy, do-nothing state Liberal government to get its act together? How many near misses are there going to be before action is taken? This is not good enough. The litany of failures to stand up for my region continues. At the western end of my electorate, from Smithton to Marrawah, the Bass Highway is in a state of disrepair and to the east, between Cowrie Point and Detention there are multiple black spots. Similar to Latrobe, a community petition of 654 members has been gathered. The local council has funded its own report and presented it to the state Liberal government calling for action. The highway at Circular Head is categorised as a state road, but do you think that Premier Hodgman or his bungling infrastructure minister has done anything about it? Sadly, the answer is no. Their own state budget did not contain one cent for the Bass Highway at Circular Head. To top it off, another answer from Senate estimates shows that Premier Hodgman and his minister have not made a single representation to the Commonwealth to support fixing this road. It is almost as if Premier Hodgman has taken the people of Circular Head for granted. Or is it that he just does not care?

Federal Labor made commitments during the 2016 campaign to support all of these projects: Cradle Mountain, shared coastal pathways, Bass Highway at Latrobe and Bass Highway in Circular Head. They are all crucial job-creating projects and, in the case of the Bass Highway, critical safety projects. I know my colleagues, under the leadership of Rebecca White, are already talking to their federal colleagues on these issues. State and federal Labor are ready and willing to work together, something the state Liberals are unable or unwilling to do here in Canberra. There is an opportunity for these issues to be dealt with in a bipartisan way. All it takes is for the lazy, do-nothing Tasmanian Premier and his minister to pick up the phone, put pen to paper and join with Labor to secure these projects.