Editorial: A chance to seal the deal

AN announcement from PM Malcolm Turnbull that a Hobart City Deal is being progressed is good news for Tasmania. A deal promises to co-ordinate action on the capital’s most pressing needs. Putting an agreement in concrete form makes it a priority.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is visiting Hobart today to deliver some good news on the long-awaited City Deal. Picture: AAP/ROB BLAKERS

AN announcement from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that a Hobart City Deal is being progressed is good news for Tasmania.

A deal promises to co-ordinate action on the capital’s most pressing needs. Putting an agreement in concrete form makes it a priority.

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And the fact that it would stay in place whoever wins government means putting it outside the turbulent election cycle and at a certain distance from the heated politicking of campaigns. It would come under one federal minister, Cities Minister Paul Fletcher, hopefully cutting out the paperwork and red tape complications that can bedevil projects when several ministers are involved.

A deal covers many of the issues tackled by the Mercury’s Tassie 2022 campaign, from transport to tourism and sensible development.

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It would concentrate on three major issues.

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The Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, or STEM, centre for Hobart’s CBD would be one of them. A single point of co-ordination for such a massive project would be welcome. STEM would elevate the importance of education for Tasmania, train people in the hi-tech skills the whole of Australia increasingly needs, and attract more students as part of the state’s valuable education industry.

An arrtist’s impression of the University of Tasmania’s STEM precinct planned for the corner of Argyle and Melville streets in Hobart.

A deal could also take on the ramifications of a major new building in central Hobart, including traffic.

Transport is another of the planks. As the Tassie 2022 campaign showed, it is one of our readers’ major bugbears.

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A city deal would look at buses, ferries and light rail. While quality roads remain the linchpin of any transport plan, well designed public transport can ease congestion as well as improving lifestyle and air quality.

Busways, including lanes and routes dedicated to buses, have been a success in other cities including Brisbane. Buses remain the most nimble public transport and if they became even quicker, passenger numbers would rise.

As for ferries, it seems a crying shame that a city that hugs a great waterway like the River Derwent does not make more use of it — for commuters and visitors. The viability of light rail is also yet to be determined.

A City Deal can progress so many issues so dear to residents. We trust it delivers for many years to come.

Even so, opening up Hobart’s rail corridors for development could help ease our critical housing issues at the very least.

Also on the cards is progressing the Macquarie Point redevelopment. The vast plot of land, the most valuable waterfront site in Tasmania, is crying out for development. There has been some work but it must be accelerated.

The area is in a prime position for significant tourism ventures. It is already close to where a growing number of cruise ships dock.

Now is the time to start the conversation on TasPorts’ role. Establishing an Antarctic precinct at Macquarie Point raises questions over the future of the working port.

We look forward to reading the details as the agreement is signed today.

A City Deal can progress so many issues so dear to residents. We trust it delivers for many years to come.