Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I like the member for Grayndler. He is indeed a long-serving member. It may or may not be the case that I become a long-serving member of this place, but what I will do in the time that I am given here, whatever that is, is make sure that I stand up for the interests of my home state of Tasmania. Those that are listening in the gallery and elsewhere, could be forgiven if it passed their notice with the contribution that the member for Grayndler made on this debate that the opposition is indeed supporting this Maritime Transport and Offshore Facilities Security Amendment (Inter-State Voyages) Bill 2015, which is essentially about red tape reduction. This bill is essentially about security measures that are absolutely necessary and important for international vessels that are coming into Australian ports but are less required or not at all required for those domestic intrastate and interstate voyages that are occurring. As a Tasmanian, I felt that it was appropriate for me to make a contribution to this debate.

The red tape savings from this bill are not huge, but they will amount to almost $1 million. This is further evidence that the government is absolutely committed to our transport systems, whatever they might be. With road transport, I note the record amount of funding that has been provided to programs in local councils all around Australia and the record amount of funding that has been provided by this government to programs like the Roads to Recovery Program. I say again to anybody listening that if you have pothole in your local road now is the time to be knocking on the door of your local council and telling them to fix that pothole, because never before have the councils had so much money coming from the Commonwealth government for those roads. That funding is at the discretion, absolutely, of the local councils. There is also the road black spots funding, which has been substantially increased for last year and also for this coming financial year.

With rail transport, I had the pleasure last week, along with the Minister for Infrastructure in Tasmania, the Hon. Rene Hidding, of announcing the largest tender that applied to the Tasmanian Rail Freight Revitalisation Project—a total commitment thus far of $119.8 million, of which the Commonwealth has gladly committed, I believe, half of that. So $58.9 million has been contributed by the Commonwealth to the revitalisation of the rail infrastructure within the state of Tasmania. The key points about that are: safety, reliability, making sure that those goods that rightly should on rail and not on road are able to be on rail, and making sure that those industries that depend on rail have the confidence to use that service. It was a pleasure to be at the announcement of the largest tender, which was awarded to VEC Civil Engineering, a business up on the north-west coast, for their contribution to a $38 million tender that will upgrade the Western Line and the Melba Line to deliver safety and reliability and provide the sectors that depend on rail in my state with the confidence to rely on TasRail.

Regarding aviation, I spoke yesterday on a bill related to the screening of freight that is leaving Australia by air to go to the United States. That is an obligation now that the United States has imposed on all countries that wish to export goods into the US. Again, this government has invested in infrastructure, particularly aviation infrastructure. I note in particular the $38 million that was committed to upgrade the Hobart airport and effectively put the 'international' back into the Hobart International Airport. This was primarily driven by the need to be able to move heavy equipment and to take large payloads down to the Antarctic, which is increasingly seeing Hobart's capability in this area.

We hope this will continue to be the case and will continue to grow as other countries see the absolute commitment that this government has shown, whether it be through the commitments of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development around such projects as the Hobart airport upgrade or whether it be through the Department of the Environment and Greg Hunt's very significant commitment to replace the Aurora Australis. The number is unknown, but the unveiling took place in Hobart the other day at the Antarctic Division in the presence of the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Environment.

It is an extraordinarily large investment. It again highlights the commitment that this country has, and the capacity that Hobart has in terms of being the hub. We are competing with other locations, be they in South America or New Zealand, and we want to see partners, whether they be Chinese partners, European partners or others, utilising the increasing facilities and capacity that Australia has in Hobart for marine and Antarctic research.

But the bill before us today relates to maritime issues. I must apologise to the member for Grayndler, because he once again digressed off the subject. For those who are listening, I must remind you that the opposition are indeed supporting the legislation before the House. But the member for Grayndler digressed onto a bill that is before the Senate at the moment and made a couple of points that I should have highlighted in my contribution in the third reading of the previous legislation. They related to perhaps the most definitive document highlighting the challenges that the island state in the island nation faces with Bass Strait, the Productivity Commission's report on Bass Strait.

It highlighted the issues as clearly as anybody. If there are any senators, particularly Tasmanian senators, who have not taken the time to read the view of Productivity Commission—an independent organisation of the highest quality academics that this country has—I can tell you that it was damning. It was absolutely damning of the changes, however well intentioned, that were made when the member for Grayndler was the responsible minister. I know this is very personal for him. I understand that and I respect that, but, frankly, the decisions that were made in 2009 and 2012 were absolutely condemned in the Productivity Commission's report into Bass Strait. It highlighted that the changes that were made hurt, understandably, the state in our country that depends most on a viable coastal shipping fleet.

I remind those listening that since 2012 the deadweight tonnage on Australian flagged vessels on Australian coastal services has fallen by 63 per cent. The Australian coastal shipping fleet is dying on the vine. This country depends so much on products such as cement, zinc, aluminium and bulk ores; we have an absolute obligation as a government to make the changes that are being proposed before the Senate.

So I call on my fellow Tasmanians, both members of the Liberal Party and others. Again, I call on Senator Whish-Wilson. I have so much time for Senator Whish-Wilson. He has so much potential. He is a pragmatic man, and I dearly hope that he is able to see the sense and the necessity of this, and the benefits and the jobs that will flow. We have already been able to see the investment that will flow by the commitment from one of the largest stevedoring companies in the world, DP World, who have said they will invest $30 million of their own money to upgrade the Port of Burnie to be able to bring in vessels that will serve, particularly, China and will reduce the costs of shipping a container from the island state in the island nation from $2,800 a container to between $1,300 and $1,400 a container. How any of the Tasmanian senators could see that as a bad thing is beyond me. They have said publicly that, initially, there will be at least 20 new jobs on the Burnie port, with this expansion, rising to 40 new jobs. My assessment would be that many of those will ultimately be members of the Maritime Union of Australia.

Again I say that I have not been malicious; I have not done anything other than acknowledge that the changes made by the previous government were well-intentioned—but they simply have not worked. It is beholden on us to see the Australian shipping fleet and the coastal trade that my state particularly depends on so much is given a chance to thrive once again. This bill will reduce red tape and will save almost $1 million in terms of compliance—not a huge amount of money, but it is important.

One of those services that are not subject to this piece of legislation is the TT-Line, which plies the Bass Strait between Devonport and the Port of Melbourne. It carries passengers from the mainland to Tasmania and vice versa. Refurbishment of the two Spirit of Tasmania ships has just been undertaken by the Tasmanian state government under the watchful eye of Minister Hidding and is very much part of the Tasmanian government's plan to grow visitation to Tasmania to 1½ million people by 2020. Industry tells us that, if we are successful in that, it will create upwards of 8,000 jobs. All the evidence suggests that they are on track to deliver that. We wholeheartedly support them in growing their passenger numbers.

It would be of interest to many here to note that in 2014-15 passenger numbers on the Spirit of Tasmania increased by eight per cent to more than 384,000, which is 16 per cent higher than was the case two years earlier. Indeed, the investment, planning, administration, oversight and commitment of the state government make the TT-Line very much part of the matrix of services that bring people to our state and move freight, particularly perishables. The member for Grayndler talked about salmon, which I suspect is an area that he does not know very much about, although I am sure he enjoys Tasmanian salmon. He would be very interested to know that perishables, such as lettuces from Houston's Farm in the south of my electorate and in the member for Franklin's electorate, very much depend on the reliability of the overnight service that runs between Tasmania and Melbourne to get product to the markets on the mainland in as good a condition as possible.

It is also encouraging to see that bookings on the TT-Line for the first quarter of this financial year are up nearly 16 per cent, and through the summer period, the peak period, they are increasing by another 17 per cent. It is a very important service for the state of Tasmania. With the good work of the state government, supported by the Commonwealth, passenger numbers are up, freight volume is up, the business of the TT-Line is improving financially, the visitor spend in Tasmania is up—and that is very important for jobs—and fare prices are decreasing.

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