Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak in support of Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2019-2020 and cognate bill. Today I want to talk about Tasmania and the fact that Tasmania is now known as the turnaround state. For a long time, we were the nation's cellar-dwellers against almost every economic measure. The latest CommSec State of the states report proves this is no longer the case. In fact, today we have the fastest-growing economy in the nation. Tasmania's revival started in 2013 and 2014 with the election of the coalition government federally and a majority of Liberal governments at the state level. Our state growth has been around 3.3 per cent in the last 12 months and that was the highest rate of growth in almost a decade. On a per capita basis we have the fastest-growing economy in the country, almost double the national average. Importantly, though, our economy is broad-based, with almost every sector growing. Retail trade has grown in 50 consecutive months. Exports are particularly strong. And there's been a positive momentum in our strong economy which has resulted in increases in tourism, business confidence, population growth and infrastructure investment throughout our state.

I congratulate the former Premier of Tasmania Will Hodgman. We will miss Will. He's done a fantastic job, but we look forward to Peter Gutwein's leadership. Although Tasmania only occupies two per cent of the landmass of Australia, it receives nine per cent of the rainfall within Australia. But we also have 25 per cent of Australia's fresh water in storage, and this storage is important to my story today in support of these appropriation bills. Through our Tranche 3 irrigation, our irrigation systems have proved immensely positive for the state's growth. In this time of drought, and as it hits home, access to water is priority No. 1. We in Tasmania, and I as a farmer, recognise that irrigation water is liquid gold for all Tasmanian farmers. Access to water right across our irrigation schemes is allowing farmers to diversify, to value-add and to expand their existing farming operations.

The Hodgman and Morrison governments are jointly investing $170 million into our Pipeline to Prosperity Tranche 3 irrigation system, with the Don, Sassafras and Wesley Vale projects in the electorate of Braddon progressing through the planning and approval processes which will provide liquid gold to our farmers. Feedback has been extremely positive with the Don scheme near Devonport on track for likely approvals early in 2020, with construction likely to start late next year. Local farmers have also expressed interest in exceeding 5,000 megalitres, more than triple the 1,300 meg originally proposed for the Sassafras and Wesley Vale schemes. Our Pipeline to Prosperity is providing farmers in each district with the confidence to invest in growing their businesses even further. It is estimated that, when fully implemented, Tranche 3 irrigation projects could deliver 78,000 megs of water to farmer, create 2½ thousand jobs, and increase annual on-farm production by $114 million.

To date, Tasmanian irrigation has delivered 14 projects under Tranche 1 and Tranche 2, which had the capacity to deliver approximately 100,000 megalitres of highly reliable irrigation water to Tasmanian farmers—liquid gold! And we've put the infrastructure in place to ensure this is captured. The Morrison and Gutwein governments are in lock step with our plan to grow the farmgate value of Tasmania's agricultural sector. (Quorum formed)

I will continue with how irrigation and our liquid gold capture is improving the GDP of Tasmania and pushing it forward to being the industry leader in agriculture throughout the nation. I'm now going to talk about how we're going to get this agricultural produce to market, and that's important.

We're investing in roads too. The Morrison government's $100 billion transport infrastructure investment across Australia is important and moving Australia forward. My constituents, who are driving around Braddon, are not belting along a freeway. We don't spend much time in traffic jams, but this investment and what it will do is to ensure that everyone in my area can get home safely to their loved ones. As an investment in our area, it will also improve travel times and reliability. It will also make our national highway, the Bass Highway, safe for all road users.

The Cooee to Wynyard Planning Study is a great example of how the federal Liberal government keeps its promises in Tasmania, particularly in my electorate of Braddon. We said we'd pay for a study to be undertaken identifying the stress on this highway, and that study's been completed and it's thorough and it will move Tasmania forward, as it will our vehicles along that system.

During the election campaign the Prime Minister visited Braddon on many occasions, and further committed to a $40 million increase in delivering a recommended—

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