Key Points
A Dean Winter Labor Government will deliver a fresh start for Tasmanian road users by building Tasmanian roads for Tasmanian conditions.
Labor has worked with civil contractors on a plan to get this right.
A Labor Government will:
- Bring back flexibility to road standards
- Bring forward tender advertising schedules and statutory timeframes for preferred tenders
- Work with industry to ensure a fair and reasonable contract is in place
Why we need it
Last year, Tasmania’s roads fell apart after a single storm event. More than 3,000 potholes appeared across Tasmania’s state roads. Since then, our roads have been patched up but are just waiting for the next storm event before they fall apart again.
Since the Liberal Government adopted the Victorian Road Standards in 2016, we have seen an inflexible attitude to road building, not allowing contractors to use a commonsense approach and making it more difficult to use locally sourced materials.
“We will build Tasmanian Roads for Tasmanian conditions. We will build the roads right, the first time.”
The details
A Dean Winter Labor Government has a five-point plan to build Tasmanian Roads for Tasmanian Conditions:
1. Flexible Tasmanian Road Standards to ensure:
- Suitable materials are sourced from local quarries and the reuse of materials on site is prioritised, reducing cost and improving outcomes.
- Road specifications focus on the use of materials that are appropriate for the conditions.
2. Tender advertising schedules
Contractors call the tender schedule a work of fiction. Rarely do projects ever get tendered when they are scheduled to be.
The Tender Advertising Schedule for major road projects will be structured so that contractors are tendering between April and June and building in spring, summer and early autumn.
3. Statutory timeframes
Labor will create statutory timeframes for preferred tenders. Tenders will be awarded within 60 days of the tender close date for a standard job and 14-day response times will be introduced for Requests for Information or clarifications. Statutory timelines have been put in place for GBEs and Planning Authorities, and it’s time for the Department of State Growth to he held to the same standards.
4. Tender content
Labor will ensure that more geotechnical data is provided within tender documents so that contractors have the best chance of designing the best road possible to suit the conditions.
This includes specifying the road seal for new road projects based on detailed vehicle data and traffic requirements.
5. Contract terms
A Dean Winter Labor Government will work with the industry to get things built. No more heavily biased, one-sided contracts that put too much risk on contractors leading to jobs being delayed or not happening at all.
This includes the direct cessation of the current AS4000 process. The current approach has led to contractors abandoning projects they have been given preferred tender status on and has delayed major projects like the Huntingfield housing subdivision.
Labor will establish a consultative process with the construction industry to redevelop an AS4000 contracting arrangement so that it is fit for purpose and fairly shares risk between the government and the contractor.
