Scott Morrison to visit Tassie for the first time this year — but he’s only going north
The Prime Minister didn’t have time to enjoy the so-called “red-carpet road” on his trip to Tasmania’s North and North-West today, instead he jumped on to his private jet. LATEST UPDATES >>
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UPDATE: Despite the millions of dollars spent on the Bass Highway over several decades, Prime Minister Scott Morrison didn’t have time to enjoy the so-called “red-carpet road” on his trip to the state’s North and North-West today.
Instead the Mr Morrison flew the 140km between Launceston and Burnie aboard the Prime Minsters’ private jet. The flight took 22 minutes compared to 90 minutes by car. The jet later flew back to Launceston at 3.54pm.
The PM is scheduled to continue his Tasmanian visit in Launceston tomorrow.
The Coalition pledged $80m for upgrades to the Bass Highway in the federal budget earlier this month.
EARLIER: The Prime Minister has visited a berry farm in the state’s north in his first visit to Tasmania in 2021.
Scott Morrison was joined by Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Liberal MP Bridget Archer, picking berries and meeting pickers at the Hillwood Berry Farm.
The prime minister’s last visit to Tasmania was in December last year.
Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein did not attend the press conference with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, instead having his own 25 kilometres away.
“I will be catching up with him later today, we were texting each other this morning,” Mr Morrison said.
The Prime Minister did not visit Tasmania during the recent state election, last making the trip down in December.
More to come ...
WELCOME TO BASS: THE PORK-BARREL CAPITAL OF TASSIE - Editorial
“IT’S all about that Bass (and Braddon)” was the post-budget headline on the front page of the Mercury last week.
In the state’s south we’ve become accustomed to the annual cash splash in Tasmania’s swing seats, in fact, it’s become a bit of an ongoing joke.
Last week Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced that the Bass Highway, which largely runs through Braddon, would get $80m for more roadworks.
That decision caused the independent Member for Clark Andrew Wilkie to ask what was left to do on the gold-plated stretch of road – “diamond-encrusted cat’s eyes?”
A quick analysis of Tasmania’s share of the spoils showed most other electorates in Tasmania were given upwards of $100m in the federal budget but the capital city electorate of Clark only nabbed $2m.
Clark, of course, is the state’s only independently-held federal government seat.
If southerners didn’t laugh at jokes about the gold-plated Bass Highway they might well cry.
In May 2020, Hobart City’s Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds spoke of how funding for the Doone Kennedy Aquatic Centre upgrade had been overlooked in three federal rounds. Most shocking to the Lord Mayor was that the council was told it was not eligible for 2019 drought funding, yet Launceston received $10m from that same fund.
Analysis of annual reports found that over the past three financial years Launceston City Council received more than double the funding given to Hobart by both levels of government. This pattern is not new. In 2016, the front page of the Mercury declared that Bass was the pork-barrel capital of Tasmania during that year’s election.
Figures showed that the Liberals poured $124.4m into the electorate while Labor pledged $179m.
“By contrast Denison, the electorate held by independent Andrew Wilkie, has had just $3.2m pledged by Labor, including a $2m boardwalk at Mona and $1m to revitalise the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens,” the article read. “The Liberals will announce today their first Denison commitment, $393,000 in road funding.”
It’s truly shocking.
It’s therefore unsurprising that in his first visit to the state in more than a year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison is focusing his time and energy in the north of the state.
The last time he visited Tasmania was in mid-December last year and he cancelled a trip during the election campaign supposedly for COVID-19 reasons.
As much as we hoped that the sports rort expose would have stopped this kind of shameless politicking, we are still stuck in the same cycle.
While the voters of Clark and political parties both refuse to budge, we remain at an impasse.
But we have to call it out for the disgrace that it is.
ScoMo to visit Tassie for the first time this year
By Jack Evans
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will visit Tasmania on Friday for the first time in 2021.
The last time he visited Tasmania was in mid-December last year.
The Prime Minister cancelled a trip during the election campaign for COVID-19 reasons.
A spokesperson from the PM’s office confirmed this morning Mr Morrison will visit the state on Friday, staying overnight into Saturday.
The Mercury understands the PM’s visit will have a northern Tasmanian focus.
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