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

In what will possibly be my last contribution in this parliament, I would like to go back over the last three years and some of the things I have been able to achieve for not only my electorate but the state of Tasmania, which is in a much better state than it was three years ago. When we came to government, unemployment had an eight in front of it in Tasmania. We still have more work to do, but today it has a six in front of it. Business confidence was low. A major driver in the Tasmanian economy had been smashed thanks to the Labor/Green double whammy of Hobart and Canberra working in tandem to shut down the forest industry in Tasmania. We have supported and enabled growth again in that sector, and Tasmania's business confidence now is amongst the highest in the nation. Last week Minister Greg Hunt announced that Warwick Smith, the former member for Bass, will do a feasibility study on the capacity for and the benefits of a second interconnector to be built between Tasmania and Victoria. This will enable investment—whether it be in tourism, agriculture, aquaculture or energy—to flow into Tasmania and also will provide a greater degree of energy security. Tasmania is a leader in renewable energy in this country, producing 40 per cent of Australia's renewable electricity.

Over the last three years we have had the nation's single biggest infrastructure investment—$50 billion around the country—and Tasmania has benefited substantially as a result of that commitment. The rollout of the Mobile Black Spot Program has seen 19 new phone towers committed to in the first round in my electorate of Lyons. Some of those are about to begin construction, which is great news for those communities which have poor or no mobile phone coverage. There has been investment in roads, whether it be at a local level through the Black Spot Program, whether it be through the Roads to Recovery Program or whether it be through more substantial projects such as upgrades of the Bass Highway and the 10-year action plan to upgrade Tasmania's major arterial, the Midland Highway. The expansion and improvement to the rail network in Tasmania is very important in moving freight around and keeping some of that heavy traffic off Tasmania's roads.

The expansion of the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme was a major initiative for our state, and this came on the back of the decisions that were made by those opposite in their time in government, when they changed the coastal shipping legislation. That had a terrible impact on our state. We lost our only international shipping service as a result of that and therefore the cost of moving freight to and from Tasmania went up, in some cases by as much as 60 per cent. The Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme expansion to exports was a welcome, but not total, fix of the damage that previously had been done under Labor.

The investment in irrigation is an enabler for so many communities in my electorate. It is not just about the investment that farmers are making; it is about the investment that is occurring in those regional communities that will benefit businesses and employment in those regions and make things such as schools and businesses more sustainable in local towns.

We have embarked on a second phase of that and we are continuing our plan to develop a stronger, more diversified economy, and that was the document, the plan, that was released on Tuesday night. It is about investing in the National Innovation and Science Agenda to support new start-up businesses. It is about using and leveraging off the procurement that will result from defence spending. Indeed, in my electorate, One Atmosphere at Eaglehawk Neck and the Defence Science and Technology Group facility up at Scottsdale are examples of where Tasmania can benefit from that.

Of course, the free trade agreements have been a wonderful thing for Tasmania, and I think Tasmania has captured and imagined the opportunity that exists to our north perhaps better than some other parts of the country. The tax cuts are also a huge boost to small and medium businesses in our state. We have fewer big businesses in Tasmania. We have more small businesses by proportion, and the extension of the tax cut—a 2½ per cent tax decrease—from businesses with a $2 million turnover to those with a $10 million turnover is significant.

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