Our state is missing out on budget largesse

The Federal Budget provided nothing for major projects in Tasmania, says Scott Bacon

TASMANIANS were right to feel underwhelmed on Federal Budget night.

As Treasurer Scott Morrison reeled off a list of big ticket infrastructure projects, we waited patiently for our name to be called. Our turn didn’t come. It would be churlish to suggest that the state is neglected entirely when it comes to infrastructure spending.

There’s ongoing federal funding to upgrade roads and money promised for improving freight rail was in the Budget. But make no mistake, some of our most critical infrastructure projects have been completely ignored.

Infrastructure Australia’s Priority List includes 98 projects across four different categories: High Priority Projects, Priority Projects, High Priority Initiatives and Priority Initiatives.

Tasmania doesn’t rate a mention in the High Priority Projects list, while Hobart’s Science and Technology Precinct is our only Priority Project. There was no money for that in Scott Morrison’s budget.

Water and sewerage infrastructure upgrades, the second tranche of the irrigation rollout, the Bridgewater Bridge and a freight corridor strategy are all in the “Priority Initiatives” column. None of those received any funding in Scott Morrison’s budget.

So while other states received commitments for intergenerational infrastructure projects like the Western Sydney airport and an inland freight link between Brisbane and Melbourne, we are left wondering where we went wrong.

The reaction from the Premier has been frustrating. Instead of taking up the fight like other state leaders, Will Hodgman said anyone arguing that Tasmania had been short changed was “dishonest or delusional”.

There’s nothing dishonest or delusional about arguing for Tasmania’s fair share and putting forward a strong case for infrastructure projects.

We know big projects have a long lead time, so it’s a worry that Tasmania’s priorities are not mentioned at all.

The lack of investment in water and sewerage infrastructure is out of step with the picture of urgency being painted by Tasmanian Treasurer Peter Gutwein.

The Treasurer has gone from ignoring water and sewerage to demanding a State Government takeover.

But he failed to convince his federal colleagues it was a funding priority. At the very least the Federal Government should have matched the $75 million commitment Bill Shorten made to Launceston’s stormwater infrastructure during the last election campaign.

It’s contradictory to have a State Treasurer arguing for a hostile takeover of water and sewerage assets to speed up infrastructure spending at the same time as critical projects are completely ignored by Canberra.

Labor believes water and sewerage investment is a joint responsibility of all three tiers of government.

We were promised that having Liberal governments in Hobart and Canberra would be beneficial for Tasmania.

In reality, there has been very little effective collaboration between the two government, especially when it comes to infrastructure.

The Premier and Prime Minister are clearly not on the same page.

For example the State Government rightly has identified the Cradle Mountain Master Plan as a tourism priority but the Federal Government has dismally failed to come to the party.

If our two governments can’t agree on something as obvious as improving the visitor experience at Cradle Mountain, what hope do we have on proper collaboration on even bigger projects?

By contrast, Labor has shared priorities when it comes to infrastructure spending at the state and federal levels.

Rebecca White and our other shadow ministers have been calling on the Federal Liberal Government to take Tasmania seriously.

We are regularly meeting with our counterparts in Bill Shorten’s shadow cabinet to identify shared goals.

Tasmanians deserves their state and federal representatives pulling in the same direction.

Only then will we see the infrastructure built to set us up for the next 30 years and beyond.