Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government continues to fail the people of Tasmania. Yesterday I put on record how disappointed people are about how the Tasmanian federal Labor team have prioritised a stadium over health and education funding, something that I continue to receive correspondence about. It's a great disappointment to me, but today I want to turn my attention to the electorate of Franklin, which is occupied by Ms Collins, the cabinet minister who failed to get a guarantee that the stadium funding would be exempt from GST. It's a real travesty for our state and for the people of Franklin, who will not be able to access health services because of this dodgy dud deal that they can still fix, I might say.

In Franklin, though, at the last election, there was a project, the Mornington roundabout, for which the Albanese Labor government committed $30 million. It was of interest to me, and I wanted to know exactly how they came to this funding figure. So I thought I might ask the Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport: 'How did they cost this particular project, Minister?' Indeed, the answer was forthcoming. He had no idea, because no-one contacted the state government about this project, which, of course, they would have to build and complete funding for. As it turns out, in response to a query, instead of a paltry $30 million dollars going to this roundabout, it's more likely going to cost $100 million. Not only are we ripping $240 million out of health and education in the state of Tasmania and doing a dud deal for the people of Tasmania because we prioritise a stadium over hospital beds but we're going to rip the people of Tasmania off by more than $70 million because, you know what, we'll build you a roundabout; we just won't pay for it. What kind of representation is that? They should be ashamed of themselves.