Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese government has abandoned Tasmania by failing to fund critical projects in its latest budget. Even the local Labor member of Lyons told media that he was 'blindsided' by the Albanese government's failure to fund the Greater South East Immigration Scheme, a project critical to addressing water shortages for producers of high-value agricultural products in Tasmania.

The Tasmanian government is investing in this project. Under the coalition government, the federal government has a long track record of supporting and funding the irrigation projects put forward by Tasmania because we know the benefits they bring for jobs and investment in our state. But when I asked at Senate estimates a couple of weeks ago why this critical project to support our producers and better utilise water resources hadn't been funded, government officials claimed they weren't sure if the project fits with 'broader government priorities'. Senator McAllister, the representing minister at the table, said that the government had 'deferred making a decision on this project at this time' and the project would have to wait for a future budget process to be considered.

This is simply not good enough. The result of this decision is that a critical project, which will be the difference between producers in Tasmania having access to water or not in future growing seasons, will now be delayed. Tasmania is being let down again and again by this Albanese government, and as for its Labor member for Lyons, who wasn't even across the status of the project and has allowed his colleagues in Canberra to brush it off to a later date, I think Senator McAllister said it best when I asked at estimates how it was possible that the Labor MP could be blindsided by what wasn't in a Labor budget in his own electorate. Senator McAllister's response on behalf of Mr Mitchell? She said, 'His own contribution speaks for itself'. We couldn't agree more. His complete lack of awareness that the Albanese government was going to let down farmers in the electorate in the budget certainly speaks for itself.