Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

'enjoy' is probably a loose term—on the ground in Bass, in the northern part of our state, and how funding isn't being provided to these community groups but instead ripped out of grassroots activities and facilities in that part of the state.

And while Senator Polley is very strong on certain issues and I look forward to working with her on some of them that I will be speaking about later today, I am concerned about her willingness to turn a blind eye to what northern Tasmania is missing out on when it comes to community sporting infrastructure, much in the same way the Labor member for Lyons, Mr Mitchell, has stood idly by while money has been ripped out of roads and infrastructure programs in Tasmania.

We only have to look at the example of the Hobart to Sorell corridor, the Midway Point causeway, which is a massive commuter route for people who head into the Hobart city area for work each day from the south-east suburbs of Greater Hobart. Thirty-five million dollars has been taken out of that vital piece of infrastructure work. The Tasmanian roads investment contingency fund had $62 million taken out of it. The Tasmanian Northern Roads Package stage 2 had $67 million take out of it. Some of these are in Bass, in Braddon and in Lyons; some of them relate to the electorate of Franklin. Right across the state, we're missing out on vital infrastructure at this point in time because of this government.

While according to certain opinion pieces this government is 'building a fairer society and stronger economy' by ripping money out of vital infrastructure projects, we have a commitment from this government to fund a $240 million waterfront stadium in Hobart's CBD. You know what? That's not the issue. The issue is how this government have chosen to fund this waterfront stadium. We already know that their priority isn't aged-care facilities for the west coast of Tasmania. It isn't grassroots sports infrastructure in northern Tasmania, in the electorate of Bass. It isn't roads for the people who live in south-eastern Lyons. Senators Urquhart and Polley and Mr Mitchell have made their views clear: they're happy to see the funding go to a stadium and not these on-ground infrastructure projects which would actually benefit the community. We know where their priorities are.

But what's worse is the terrible approach they've taken to ensuring that we do actually miss out as a result of this decision. This funding has not been exempted from GST calculations. At estimates, I asked whether the government had guaranteed that this funding would be exempt from GST calculations for the state of Tasmania. No guarantee could be given. No Labor member from Tasmania had asked at that point in time whether that guarantee could be given.

As we all know, GST for a state like Tasmania—it is a smaller state; it has a smaller population; it has a smaller economy. One of the beauties of Federation is that no matter where you live you are entitled to the same level of support when it comes to government services, no matter whether you live in downtown Sydney or remote or rural Tasmania. GST funding is essential when it comes to health, when it comes to education, when it comes to other essential services that Tasmanians deserve. But under the decision and the arrangement that's been struck up between the Albanese Labor government and the Tasmanian government, we will miss out.

Now, I will point out that the Tasmanian Treasurer, Mr Michael Ferguson, has asked for this exemption to occur, like it has with other projects—like it did with the Mersey Community Hospital $730 million payment to the state of Tasmania for them to take back on what was under federal responsibility. The Mersey Community Hospital, just outside of Devonport, in the community of Latrobe, was exempt from GST calculations. I know that because I helped broker the deal. It was a good deal. But, for this one, not a single Labor senator from Tasmania, not Mr Mitchell and not Ms Collins, who sits in cabinet, has been able to, for the people of Tasmania—I see Senator McKim, who agrees with me on this. Ms Collins has not done her job for the people she represents: to ensure that they don't lose health funding for the sake of this stadium.

The funding's coming; the deal's been done. Tassie will get a team. It's now obviously a matter for the Tasmanian parliament. But the matter for this crew here, the Australian government, the Albanese Labor government, is: are you actually pro-Tasmania or pro-Canberra? Are you going to protect Canberra's interests and make sure you don't have to pay twice, or are you going to do the right thing by the people of Tasmania and make sure that we don't lose a cent when it comes to health, education and other essential services? I've heard zip so far. I hope I hear more before this debate concludes.

All of this, the abandonment of responsibility on the part of the Tasmanian Labor federal MPs and senators—I say that seriously: 'abandonment'—who are happy to come up here and do TikTok videos talking about their commitment to sports infrastructure in downtown Hobart but walk right away from a commitment to ensure Tasmania is no worse off when it comes to health, is an abrogation of duty. It doesn't speak to a fairer society, it certainly doesn't speak to a stronger economy and it breaks my heart. I have to tell you, Deputy President McLachlan, that, when colleagues who come from my community so happily walk away from commitments they made just a year ago and from the people back home who are getting on with trying to pay their power bills, make sure they have enough money in their bank account for their mortgage repayment, put fuel in the car so they can get their kids to school and keep the heating on through winter, they don't know what's going on up here. It's our job, as the opposition, to make sure people do know that's exactly what Senator Urquhart, Senator Polley, Senator Brown, Senator Bilyk, Mr Mitchell and Ms Collins are doing. They're abandoning their state. They're abandoning Tasmanians, even though they say differently.

I look forward to Senator Urquhart penning an opinion piece to tell us, of course, that she has secured a commitment to have the stadium funding exempt from GST. I asked about it in this place over a month ago. The Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Wong—in fairness to her, I don't expect her to be across the ins and outs of where things were at, but it seemed like a pretty low-order priority to this government, and that distresses me because Tasmanians, like anyone who lives on the big island, are Australians, too. They shouldn't miss out on health funding just to back in a group of Tasmanian federal Labor MPs and senators who see their job as protecting the firm up here in Canberra, not looking after the interests of people in Tasmania who are doing it tough. They've got their priorities wrong. No matter what they write in papers and no matter what they say, they've dropped the ball and they've let Tasmanians down. This is something that I will make sure as many Tasmanians as possible know.