Key Points
A Rebecca White Labor Government will deliver a better future for infrastructure in Tasmania.
Labor will undertake a record investment in our roads while focusing on the people who build and use them. We will enhance our economic infrastructure and improve delivery.
Labor’s plan will:
- Spend over $1.7 billion on Tasmanian roads
- Provide certainty and vision for our major highways with 10 Year Action Plans
- Invest in higher-quality, longer-lasting and safer roads
- Support training and mentoring in the civil construction industry
- Act to combat speeding and unsafe driving
- Train young drivers
- Provide rest areas and licensing solutions for heavy vehicle drivers
- Improve rail crossing safety
- Invest in the Hobart and Launceston airports
- Expand the Burnie Port
- Deliver infrastructure on-time and on-budget with more transparency and statutory oversight.
Why we need it
The last 10 years of Liberal Government have seen a decade of overpromises and under-delivery. The Government spent 27% less than it budgeted for infrastructure in 2022-23 alone, evidence that projects are being delayed.
“A Rebecca White Labor Government will deliver a better future for infrastructure”
Late last year, Tasmanians learned that the Bridgewater Bridge would follow the trajectory of other Liberal projects by being delayed by 12 months.
Meanwhile, roads develop potholes months after they are resurfaced, the heavy vehicle industry has a severe driver shortage, and our economic infrastructure is falling behind.
Labor has a Plan to deliver a better future for infrastructure in Tasmania.
The details
Labor’s Plan for Infrastructure will:
1. Improve our roads
A Labor Government will invest more than $1.7 billion on Tasmania’s road network. This will include:
- A 10 Year Bass Highway Action Plan to upgrade intersections, improve safety, and duplicate more of the highway. Labor in Government will commit $50 million over the next four years to get started.
- A Tasman Highway (Great Eastern Drive) Action Plan to bring forward funding for more overtaking lanes, wider roads and improved safety and experience up and down the East Coast, by doubling Tasmania’s investment over the next four years to $35 million and consulting with the Federal Government to increase its contribution.
- An Action Plan for the Huon Highway to progress necessary upgrades, including at the Mountain River Road intersection, with $20 million over the next four years.
- Working with the Federal Government to deliver a solution to the Mornington Roundabout.
- A $20 million duplication of the Lyell Highway between Granton and New Norfolk.
- Upgrades and replacement of bridges on Wielangta Road for $6 million.
- $3 million to upgrade Golconda Road, connecting Scottsdale to George Town and Launceston.
- Assessment of new freight route options between Brighton and Cambridge to reduce pressure on the Tasman Highway and East Derwent Highway
- A second crossing of the Cam River.
- $100,000 to deliver safety upgrades at pedestrian crossings at Exeter and Scottsdale.
A Labor Government will also increase spending on infrastructure maintenance to $150 million per annum. This is an investment in higher quality, longer-lasting roads which will prevent potholes, increase signage, and make our roads safer, and includes works such as road strengthening, shoulder widening, resurfacing, remarking and sightline maintenance.
We will also commission an audit into activating the Northern Suburbs Transport Corridor in the first 100 days of a Labor Government, then work with the Federal Government to seek a funding solution, and we will increase housing density around the corridor to enhance the business case for the Australian Government.
2. Support our road builders
A Rebecca White Labor Government will fund the construction and operation of a Live Works Training Site at Quercus Park. This site has the potential to deliver up to 3,000 training units per year, and will help train the additional 667 Plant and Machinery Operators that are needed by 2027 to complete Tasmania’s infrastructure pipeline.
A Labor Government will also provide a two-year extension to the High Vis Army program provided by the Civil Contractors Federation, Master Builders Tasmania and the Housing Industry Association, which provides vital training and mentoring to people getting into the industry, especially women and people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
3. Support heavy vehicle operators
A Labor Government is committed to Tasmania’s heavy vehicle operators and recognises that transport and logistics is the backbone of the Tasmanian economy. We will:
- Provide $1.5-2 million funding for a rest area facility at Epping Forest that will have a dedicated area for drivers, improved parking for heavy vehicles and a permanent bus stop, planned around the Tasmanian Truck Drivers Memorial Wall.
- Invest $3-3.5 million in rest areas for heavy vehicle operators around the state, working with the Australian Government’s Heavy Vehicle Rest Areas initiative, with a priority to construct and maintain toilet facilities at Longford rest areas.
- Provide $250,000 to support the delivery of 300 heavy vehicle licences, and work with industry to embed licensing capability within industry and ensure long-term sustainability.
- Invest $320,000 to extend the Rural Alive and Well Open Road health and wellbeing program for the next three years, to provide dedicated support for the transport industry.
- Provide certainty to the industry with continued funding for the Tasmanian Transport Association’s work enhancing workforce development.
4. Make our roads safer
A Rebecca White Labor Government is committed to safer roads for all Tasmanians. We will:
- Provide $700,000 over four years for the Your Speed is Our Safety campaign in partnership with the Civil Contractors Federation and the Road Safety Advisory Council.
- Invest $8 million over five years with the RACT in a Youth Driver Training program.
- Commit $2 million for level crossing safety, including to install cameras, a community education campaign and support TasRail’s applications under the Australian Government’s Regional Australia Level Crossing Safety Program.
5. Deliver for Tasmania’s economic infrastructure
A Labor Government will invest to unlock Tasmania’s economic infrastructure. Labor will provide:
- $2 million for an Intermodal Hub masterplan and $8 million to upgrade the freight taxiway at Launceston Airport.
- An additional $15 million over three years to secure international flights from the Hobart International Airport to destinations including New Zealand and Asia.
- A commitment to extend and strengthen Berth 7 at Burnie Port and dredge it to make it deeper. If we need to rewrite the Ministerial Statement of Expectations to deliver this project we will, because they need to be working in Tasmania’s best interest and our ports are vital given we are an island economy.
6. Ensure infrastructure is delivered
A Labor Government will deliver a Project Management Office (PMO) to oversee and audit infrastructure spending to ensure it is being managed properly.
The PMO will be established by legislation and will report to Parliament twice a year on the progress of infrastructure projects, and other projects it believes are of interest. It would cover Government agency projects as well as those of Government Business Enterprises and State-Owned Companies and statutory authorities.
The PMO approach will provide a consultative approach to projects by supplying templates, best practices, training, access to information and lessons learned from other projects, and require compliance through various means including transparent reporting.