Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mercifully, my question is to the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts. The Tasmanian government is stuffing up the Hobart City Deal by failing to decide how to spend the $25 million federal funding for the Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor and by its bizarre decision to spend $35 million of state funding on a fifth lane to the Southern Outlet. The Southern Outlet plan is especially unfathomable, as all it will do is see many homes demolished and more vehicles squeezed into the already gridlocked Macquarie and Davey streets. The city deal is a working partnership between all levels of government, but the Tasmanian government is clearly out of its depth. So I ask: please, Minister, will you intervene and help sort it out? (Time expired)

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Clark for his question. I acknowledge his advocacy and his interest in the Hobart City Deal. Indeed, there is $30 million for social housing, for which he has been an important advocate; some 100 new social and affordable homes will be delivered. Quite a few have already been delivered; I had the privilege of visiting one of those homes and speaking with the tenant a few weeks ago, and she was very positive about what this has meant for her.

Can I assure the member and the House that the $1.7 billion Hobart City Deal is in good shape. It will support over 1,400 jobs. There is a positive partnership between all three levels of government, as the member has rightly acknowledged that there should be. I had the chance in March this year to attend a Hobart City Deal Joint Ministerial Committee meeting, together with: the responsible state minister, the Hon. Michael Ferguson; the Acting Lord Mayor of Hobart, Helen Burnet, the mayor of Glenorchy; the mayor of Kingborough; and the acting mayor of Clarence. It was a very productive meeting.

Of course, we are delivering outcomes under the Hobart City Deal. One of the commitments was an international gateway to support direct international flights. I was very pleased to be there with Premier Gutwein to welcome the first flight by Air New Zealand coming into Hobart. International flights at Hobart Airport—a commitment delivered. We are working with the city deal partners on the Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor. There is a commitment of $25 million. We're considering the findings of a study of potential transport solutions. Indeed, on 25 May the Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor Working Group agreed to commission a conditions report, and we are awaiting the outcomes of that report. The city deal will deliver the $76 million fifth transit lane on the Southern Outlet, with extra lane capacity to be added to the Southern Outlet, and many other transport projects and other projects, including the Bridgewater Bridge. I want to acknowledge the passion and commitment of the Deputy Prime Minister and the work he has put into delivering the Bridgewater Bridge. It has been a privilege to work with the Deputy Prime Minister on that and many other projects.

Many other projects are also forming part of the city deal or sitting alongside the city deal and complementing it, including our joint funding with the Gutwein government of the $46.4 million Hobart Airport Interchange. We are spending $130 million on the south-east traffic package to help maintain the livability of Sorell and the Southern Beaches by improving travel time reliability. We have seen a very important announcement from the University of Tasmania about relocating its campus from Sandy Bay to Central Hobart by 2030. Certainly all governments understand the importance of that for the regeneration and for the transport networks that will be needed to support that. The city deal is delivering for the people of Hobart, with all three levels of government working together. I thank the member for his continuing interest in it.