The Parks Minister is happy to double current fees for seniors to enter national parks to generate $800,000 in revenue but hasn’t budgeted for inevitable cost blowouts on two multimillion-dollar projects in the Tyndalls and Freycinet. It’s a shameful, fiscally reckless, and inequitable approach to the Parks budget.
In Estimates, Minister Duigan couldn’t provide updated costings on the $40 million Tyndalls Ranges proposal – but didn’t rule out the cost going up in the future. It’s been several years since the proposal was made, and thanks to rising inflation costs and project design changes, cost blowouts are inevitable on the project.
The Freycinet Gateway proposal has had around $14 million of State Government funding earmarked to it for six years. Like the Tyndalls, it’s not immune to inflation.
The Minister was unable to present an updated cost for the contentious Freycinet Gateway proposal, or even a cost breakdown as the project stands. Despite this project being six years old, it’s still only in the ‘concept plan’ phase after design changes.
The $800,000 the Minister is penny-pinching from seniors trying to enjoy Tassie’s parks won’t come close to covering inflation costs on these two multimillion-dollar projects. When the state is heading toward record levels of debt, it is impossible to justify pursuing these projects any further without updated budgets.
The more than $54 million budgeted for these projects would be better redirected to the core Parks funding. Walking tracks need upgrades to make them more accessible for everyone and to protect the environment, and real work needs to be done to reduce biosecurity issues such as invasive deer in Tasmania’s parks. It’s time the government got its priorities straight.
