Funding raid for road fix claims Labor

LABOR has accused the Coalition of absorbing the budget for one major Tasmanian road project into another to mitigate cost blowouts.

Opposition Senator Carol Brown said a Senate estimates hearing on infrastructure revealed the Federal Government was raiding funding for the Hobart to Sorell traffic corridor to pay for the Hobart airport roundabout replacement.

The cost of the roundabout replacement, announced almost four years ago, has blown out from an estimated $30 million to $47 million.

“Following the decision to break another election commitment by funding the shiploader at Burnie Port from previously pledged funds to upgrade Tasmania’s rail network, we now have confirmation in departmental documents that the Morrison Government has taken separate funds promised for the much larger Hobart to Sorell corridor fix to fund their previous commitment to replace the Hobart airport roundabout,” Senator Brown said.

Documents tabled in Senate Estimates show the Hobart to Sorell corridor and airport roundabout projects funded with $163 million in total – $130 million from the Federal Government and $33 million from the State Government.

The State Government’s contribution to the roundabout replacement was listed as $9.5 million.

A spokeswoman for Federal Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack said no funding had been taken out of the Tasmanian Infrastructure Investment Program.

“At the request of the Tasmanian Government, the Australian Government contribution of $38 million to the Hobart Airport Interchange has been funded under the Hobart to Sorell Corridor Roads of Strategic Importance (ROSI) package to match the approach taken with state funding,” the spokeswoman said.

“The Australian and Tasmanian governments are currently finalising agreement on the next phase of priority works to be funded under the ROSI package and will be announcing the further projects soon.”