Ross Hart (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Listening to local radio in Tasmania on Monday, I couldn't believe my ears when the Deputy Prime Minister was pressed on whether the budgeted $400 million for roads of strategic importance would be spent on the Bass Highway in Braddon. What did he say? He said, ducking and weaving, 'Look, certainly the Bass Highway is an important stretch of road.' He goes on, 'We need to make it safe. The residents between Marrawah and Launceston would expect no less.' I welcome the statement made yesterday by the Deputy Prime Minister clarifying that the $400 million would be delivered for all the highways and byways in Tasmania and not, as had been falsely suggested, just for the Bass Highway and, of course, the Braddon by-election.

The morning after the budget, I said to members of the Launceston business community that this promise was a slush fund for the government without any identified projects, to be used as a re-election bargaining chip. In my electorate of Bass there are a number of projects that merit attention—projects like addressing traffic congestion on the Western Tamar Highway or the upgrade of the Sideling as a freight route to the north-east in conjunction with long-heralded irrigation projects. And, of course, there is the traffic congestion within Launceston. We need a transparent and considered approach to roads funding, not this government's deception. My good friend Justine Keay and I will fight for infrastructure for Tasmania.