Ms BURNET (Clark) – Deputy Speaker, I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for bringing this subject to the House. Where do we begin? There is a number of ways to phrase infrastructure failings and I will go into a bit of detail. First, we have to start with TT‑Line’s failure in delivering the Spirits to Tasmania and the berth at Devonport to be fit and proper for when the ship comes in. That was a debacle with Mr Ferguson, who is still the shareholder minister. The Devonport wharf upgrade is not only a delayed piece of infrastructure, but it has quadrupled in cost from $90 million to $375 million. We continue to see the lack of action by TasPorts and a lack of adequate funding in Hobart, Burnie and Devonport wharfs, so there is considerable concern in relation to that.
Regarding what the Premier and Minister for Infrastructure has said about community consultation, I remind the House of the community consultation debacle on the fifth lane for the Southern Outlet back in 2018. Mr Bayley will remember how disruptive that was to the residents of Dynnyrne Road, in particular. It put them in such a state over their houses potentially being compulsorily acquired, which I do not think we are going to see any time soon, anyway.
As another example, the Tasman Bridge, which is a jointly funded project with the federal government, a fifty-fifty split, was meant to be completed this year, although I may be wrong. It may be next year. However, the state government’s $65 million is not evident in the budget papers, that I could see. The longer we leave them, the more expensive infrastructure projects become. We will definitely see a cost blowout here and in many other projects. It is disappointing that for the busiest piece of road infrastructure in Tasmania, the Tasman Bridge, the safety upgrades and the requirements for safety and security when you are walking, riding a bike or with traffic lane changes being electronic will not be happening anytime soon.
We will move away from the spending on roads. I might add that almost 50 per cent of Infrastructure spending will be on roads, which means poor health, poor education and poor prisoners. Health and education facilities are crumbling. We have some Infrastructure spending, but for Montello Primary School, for example, not enough is being spent on that build and not enough in a lot of the education facilities. It is too bad for the health workers who will not get their hospitals rebuilt in good time or well enough, it is too bad for the patients, but also for teachers and students.
We need a government who can prioritise much more effectively than they are. It is not good enough to run the state into the ground on vanity projects and follies such as the billion-dollar stadium at Mac Point and to appease the AFL, nor to show fiscal responsibility, which we have very little of. Care is needed with projects that are not carefully managed without the oversight they deserve, such as the Spirits.
