State alone can’t afford road upgrades, candidates say only federal Libs can pay for build
The Bass Highway duplication won’t go ahead unless the Coalition win power federally, party candidates and Tasmania’s Premier says ahead of the vote.
Tasmania
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Upgrades worth $100m to the Bass Highway won’t go ahead unless the Liberals win power federally in Saturday’s election, party candidates and the Premier said on Monday.
The funding pledge is earmarked to complete the Bass Highway duplication between Launceston and Deloraine.
The state government has a Bass Highway Corridor Strategy and a Bass Highway Action Plan and the pledged $20m for the work in the lead up to last year’s state election — but says it doesn’t have the money for the entire project.
“At the very start of the campaign, the Coalition committed $80m to help duplicate the Bass Highway, which along with $20m from the state will ensure the job gets done,” Liberal candidate for Lyons Susie Bower said on Monday.
“The Bass Highway is Tasmania’s busiest freight route, and this upgrade will help to make the road safer and more efficient for transport operators, visitors and locals alike.
“An elected Coalition government will restore the 80/20 road funding rule, which Labor cut, delivering literally hundreds of millions of future road funding to Tasmania.
“Without this funding, Tasmania would have been over $500m worse off in federal funding on just three major road projects — the Midland Highway, new Bridgewater Bridge and South East Traffic Solution — and they may not have even happened.”
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the state government can’t afford to pay for the roads the state needs.
“The Bridgewater Bridge is a classic example, a huge project will not have gone off the ground, 80/20 funding split, or indeed cost the Tasmanian taxpayer another $235m which would otherwise go into health and education,” he said.
“For safer roads, for Tasmanians and new bridges and the key infrastructure that we need we simply must have this 80/20 funding split.”
During a recent campaign visit, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he preferred state governments to pay more of a share for road upgrades.
“As a former Infrastructure Minister, with respect to all state and territory governments, you got to get buy-in from state governments,” he said.
“The way you get buy in isn’t by saying, ‘we’ll pay for four-fifths of everything that happens,’ because that’s a way in which the government that is actually building the project won’t have control and won’t have the discipline that is required.
“Here in Tasmania, the record investment that we will continue to put in for Tasmania, including not just infrastructure investment in roads and rail, but investments such as the additional $120m we’re contributing at Launceston for hospitals, will make an enormous difference.”
Originally published as State alone can’t afford road upgrades, candidates say only federal Libs can pay for build
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