Dear Mr Murphy

Thank you for your letter dated 21 March 2011 about a petition regarding funding for the Sorell Bypass/Arthur Highway in Tasmania.

The Arthur Highway is a state road for funding purposes and is the primary responsibility of the Tasmanian Government. The Australian Government, for its part, has committed $809.6 million for land transport infrastructure in Tasmania over the period 2008-09 to 2013-14.

The Australian Government provides a significant level of direct financial support to local governments to assist them to upgrade and maintain their local roads through programs such as Roads to Recovery and the Financial Assistance Grants.

Over the period 2009-10 to 2013-14, the Sorell Council has been allocated $1,415,318 under Roads to Recovery. The choice of projects to be funded under the program, their management, scope and timing are at the discretion of the local council to ensure that they reflect local priorities. This could include improvements to the road network in and around Sorell. In addition, $1,983,429 has been allocated to Council as a Financial Assistance Grant for roads and general purpose expenditure in 2010-11.

Thank you for raising this matter.

from the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Mr Albanese