Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Tyrrell. I agree that Tasmanians shouldn't be penalised because of a lazy Tasmanian state government, and that's exactly why the Albanese government committed $2.2 billion towards infrastructure projects in Tasmania in this year's federal budget. I could take you through the details, but there are a range of different road projects, both new and existing, that we are contributing money for.

The point about the project that you're talking about is that, as I've said, the department of infrastructure did not receive the required information from the Tasmanian government by 28 April 2023, which meant that we were unable to complete an assessment of the project. I think many of us in this chamber know someone who might be able to do something about that. He was well known to many people in this chamber, and his name is Eric Abetz. He's particularly well known to Senator Duniam. Senator Duniam knows former senator Abetz very well. Senator Colbeck knows former senator Abetz very well as well. Maybe they could pick up the phone to Eric Abetz, if he will take their phone call, and get this fixed up. (Time expired)