CHAIR – Minister, as I said yesterday, I’m very pleased to see that the Health minister, Mrs Archer, is looking at a whole‑of‑government approach with preventative health, which the government is undertaking. How will you embed active transport projects in what you’re doing with infrastructure projects, where possible?
Mr VINCENT – I can assure you that most projects that come across my desk have already taken into account active transport. It is part of the consultation process on most projects now, excluding some highways, of course. It is very much part of the future, I think, that we have to do that sort of thing. It’s an automatic part of what we do. The secretary might like to expand on how they do that internally, but certainly, a lot of things coming across my desk include active transport.
Mr MOLONEY – Through you, minister. At a macro‑level, we’re looking at updating our Tasmanian transport strategy at the moment and this will look at all modes of transport. Active transport is part of that. Our priority is to make sure transport is safe, it’s accessible, it’s connected, and helps grow economic activity. Active transport is a really important part of that, so at a macro level, we look at that.
At a lower level, we’re really looking at how we build this into projects we’re doing. If we’re doing a road upgrade, is there a possibility of designing this that has active transport on it? We’re looking at it for the full spectrum.
One of the things we’re looking at as well is the federal government has had a number of programs out about this. We want to take advantage of that, because we’ll deliver better outcomes for our community, so we’re actively considering that at the moment.
CHAIR – I put it to you that that’s not necessarily what we’re seeing through the Public Works Committee, and Ms Butler chairs that currently. Huntingfield is a classic example, where the first thing to go was active transport. Is that active transport bridge to park‑and‑ride, which can’t be in isolation ‑ but to the park‑and‑ride from the subdivision, is that going ahead?
Ms HEYDON – To your earlier point as well, and through you, minister, I appreciate that active transport may not have been coming through quite clearly. One of the things we’re definitely trying to do in relation to transport planning is when we do corridor planning, we consider all transport. We’re at a bit of an iterative stage of bringing that in.
You look at what are the needs of all of the users in that corridor and including in identifying active transport ‑ not just road but public transport as well. That is where we’re evolving to. Thank you for your shout-out to transport planners. I’m a big fan.
One moment. On Huntingfield ‑ there’s good news on that.
Mr VINCENT – Yes, we are funding that. The federal government, in the allocation of money for that, chose not to fund it. We had to work it through some other funding, and that has been allocated now. The final design was completed in March 2025, the construction pending receipt of all necessary environmental approvals. So, that project you did mention will be going ahead through other funding sources. Funding committed for this project is $3.9 million.
CHAIR – Thank you.
