The North West Transmission Development has been on the drawing board for five years but still has no finalised route, no agreement with landowners, and no final costing. 

With Jeremy Rockliff’s new plan to privatise TasNetworks in a desperate move to fix his budget mess, there are serious questions about the future of the project.

In 2023, the Liberals cut Northwest Transmission in half, and projects like Robbins Island, HIF e-fuels plant and Whaleback Ridge were left off the map with no plan to actually connect them to the network.  18 months later, there is still no plan to connect them and none of those projects can get started until they have certainty that they will actually be connected.

The Liberals even left stage 2 from its statement of expectations for TasNetworks.

Given what happened with the ferries fiasco, none of these proponents are going to want to invest unless there is a plan for their transmission to be constructed before their project is complete.  They don’t want to be the ferry waiting for a berth.

Tasmania can’t afford to miss out on billions in economic activity and thousands of local jobs. The North West Transmission Development needs certainty, which is impossible for TasNetworks to provide with a potential sale or lease hanging over its head.

Dean Winter MP
Labor Leader