Clock ticking on City Deal

Let’s all hope Prime Minister Scott Morrison was choosing his words carefully when on Tuesday he promised that the final sign-off on the long, long, long-awaited Hobart City Deal would happen “soon”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: Dylan Robinson

THE dictionary definition of the word “soon” is “in or after a short time”. Let’s all hope Prime Minister Scott Morrison was choosing his words carefully when on Tuesday he promised that the final sign-off on the long, long, long-awaited Hobart City Deal would happen “soon”.

That’s because it is vital the agreement be locked and loaded well ahead of the federal election campaign, which is likely to kick off after the federal budget is delivered on April 2. Labor is clearly the favourite at the election (the bookies have them at $1.18 to the Coalition’s $4.40) — and Labor has said it would only honour (and maybe even build on) City Deals that are signed, not those still in the promises phase.

It is little wonder then that the four greater Hobart mayors felt it was their duty to stage what was a rather extraordinary intervention this week and publicly write to the Prime Minister and Premier seeking answers on when the deal will be signed.

In the letter, the mayors demanded a date be set for an official signing of the City Deal as soon as possible — and that they be given sufficient time ahead of that to be briefed on the detail of what the final agreement will be. We welcome their intervention.

There are increasing concerns among the ranks of the mayors that the final City Deal will end up being nothing more than a motherhood statement about the Federal Government’s future support for important Hobart developments, such as a light rail-style network to the northern suburbs and the so-called Antarctic Precinct at Macquarie Point. That would be a serious shame, and really an indictment on the bargaining skills of the Hodgman Government.

However, let’s stay positive. While it is true the promise was that the City Deal would be completed by the end of last year, we should perhaps cut the Federal Government some slack — after all, we did get a new prime minister, and consequently cities minister, on August 24. That probably set things back a bit.

However, the truth is that the City Deal concept was very much a creation of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. There has been no evidence yet that Prime Minister Morrison is as committed to these deals. Certainly when the Mercury asked him about his commitment to the Hobart City Deal when he visited in October, Mr Morrison said only “we’re waiting on a couple of bits to fall into place” — and appeared cool on the idea of the light rail component.

It would be a shame if light rail was not included (and it would not have to be light rail per se — there are plenty of other options like trackless trams). Whatever it looks like, a new public transport solution to the northern suburbs would help ease both our traffic issues and the housing crisis. It would potentially open up a swag of opportunities for new medium-density housing options in Glenorchy, which would revitalise the surrounding areas — and there would be a quick new way to travel into the central business district.

The City Deal will not fix all our troubles, but it is the best chance for years (since Andrew Wilkie shared the balance of power in the Gillard administration) for greater Hobart to unlock some serious additional federal funding. Let’s all hope it happens soon.