Press conference - Australian Maritime College

JESS TEESDALE: We’re very excited to welcome the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Catherine King, here today, particularly some of the announcements that we're about to hear. So very, very grateful. Thank you so much, Minister.

CATHERINE KING: Thanks, Jess. Well, it's terrific to be here at the Australian Maritime College with Jess Teesdale, Labor's Candidate for the seat of Bass. I'm very much looking forward to- I hear fabulous things about Jess everywhere I go and I'm very much looking forward to, hopefully, seeing her - after the election, whenever that might be - to seeing her with us in Canberra as the Federal Member for Bass.

Well, today I particularly want to acknowledge Mal Wise, who's a former friend and- well, a good friend and colleague who has hosted us here at the Australian Maritime College. One of the things that we have been very conscious of as a government is that our maritime skills are incredibly important. They're part of an important part of the sovereign capability we have as a nation, and so many of them are trained here.

And today we are announcing that, as part of the work that we did on the strategic fleet and as part of the work both through representations from the Maritime Union of Australia and the Maritime Industry associations, that we really do want to make sure that all of the fabulous students who are coming through this college are able to start to get access to sea time. One of the blockers of actually getting maritime skills is actually getting that sea time, getting that berth on a ship to be able to complete the practical parts of your training that you need to actually do.

And so today, we're announcing over $16.9 million over the next four years which will pay for 20 seafarers to actually get, with industry, berths on ships to get that sea time. As I said, this is a really important part of our sovereign capability. And often what will happen, we know that the students that come through here are in very high demand. But in order to get that sea time, often many of them have to go overseas to do that and we don't get them back. 

So, if we're going to have those seafarers for our Defence forces, for our civil maritime sector which is so important, particularly here in Tasmania but right the way across our coastline, we need to actually make sure that we can keep that training pipeline. This has been a really significant issue for some time. We've been working with Jobs and Skills Australia on this work as well, and some of the funding will go also to their different industry groups to actually continue that work to actually get the berths.

The other thing that we're here in Launnie today I'm announcing is some really significant road funding. We've been working with the Tasmanian Government on what are the next tranches of funding for roads that really do need investment here in this community. And so we're announcing here a $43 million package of new road funding. Both planning money, so one of the things that has been a hallmark of the Albanese-Labor Government is what we've been trying to do is make sure we invest early in planning; we get that planning, design services movement work. We get the funding to do that first, then we make sure we've got a very clear eyed view about what investments needed if needed for that to go forward.

So, $20 million we're announcing to do the detailed design work for a new crossing of the Tamar. I know how important that is. It has been on the books for a long period of time, and so working with the Tasmanian Government to actually get that second crossing, $20 million from the Albanese-Labor Government to really ensure that we've got that work done. That combined, of course, with money that's going - $10 million - towards Esk Main Road. And particularly, trying to look at how do we deal with the bottleneck at St Mary's Pass, and how do we actually get what the alternatives might be so that $10 million really working with the Tasmanian Government to developing, and what those alternate routes might be, and working from there.

We've also announced some further money to really do that planning work, again, through Devonport to Cradle Mountain. What we know is that there is significant issues either to get people there, the road is not adequate, and so we're increasing our commitment to $6.3 million to do that planning work again. To get a better understanding of how we actually can do the work to actually improve the roads that go to Cradle Mountain as well.

The other thing we've announced today, and Jess and I just went out and had a look at it just before we came here, is active transport. For the first time, we've had $100 million dedicated out of the Infrastructure Investment Program specifically for active transport. We know along many of our main roads, there just isn't room for people to cycle safely, for people to work- walk their push- or walk their children in pushes, or to walk, or people on mobility scooters to get around. So a $1.3 million investment alongside Launceston City Council and also the Mersey Valley Council as well to do two active paths as well. So that's part of the package that we're here announcing today – a really significant investment in moving people around, but also training the next generation of seafarers. I can't think of a better place to have been able to do that than the Australian Maritime College, which is a significant part of the eco-structure of training those seafarers into the future. I'm really happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: Maybe firstly on the funding for the Tamar bridge …

CATHERINE KING: Yeah.

JOURNALIST: … that's been an ongoing issue for years. We've already seen millions poured into feasibility studies and planning. A lot of locals would see this as just more money for more planning. When's the planning actually going to end?

CATHERINE KING: Well, when the planning ends is when you actually have a plan – you know what it is that you're actually going to build, you've done the geotech work to understand underground, what can you actually do, you've actually done what the route is, where you have to look at land acquisition, all of those things. And we are very serious about that. This is something that has been asked for by the Tasmanian Government and- wants that investment to try and make sure that this time we get it right. I don't invest in planning money without then knowing that in the future, I am then going to be asked for construction money. But what we do first is put that planning money in, particularly because this will be a significant investment, a really significant investment. You don't build a bridge for a small- that amount of money. It is a significant investment that will be required. But the planning money allows us to get an understanding of exactly what the costs are going to be going forward.

JOURNALIST: The Tasmanian Government put in a planning proposal to Infrastructure Australia last year for the bridge. So was that plan not good enough?

CATHERINE KING: Well, this isn't- that wasn't funded. That is a business case that they've put in. This is doing the actual work to plan the bridge. This is, you know, the structural elements that are needed in order to actually build a bridge.

JOURNALIST: And is this promised funding, like, already budgeted? Or is this an election [indistinct]?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, this is already budgeted. Correct.

JOURNALIST: Is- I suppose, like- that funding [indistinct] a guarantee that the- I suppose, the Federal Government will also fund the [indistinct] bridge being built later on?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah. So what you've seen in the history of the reforms that I took to Infrastructure Australia and also the reforms I've taken to our infrastructure investment pipeline, which is the Government's co-funding that we do with states and territories, is what I've done is reformed it so that we now have planning money. We've got a 10-year pipeline of projects from every state and territory coming forward. We've got a clear view about what the priorities are for each state and territory. We fund the planning, we get a good understanding of exactly what is needed, we do that detailed design work and then we look to then in subsequent budgets, put the money for construction. You don't do planning without saying that, you're actually then going to invest in the bridge later on.

JOURNALIST: How quickly would the Federal Government like the Tasmanian Government to get this planning completed?

CATHERINE KING: We always like things to be done as quickly as possible, but infrastructure, particularly big scale infrastructure, takes time. And we expect- we want that planning work to be done well. We want to make sure that we actually get a very- as I said, a very clear view of what the actual costs of the bridge will be, because it won't be cheap. Let's be realistic about that. It will be an expensive bridge to build.

JOURNALIST: And that $3.8 million extra for the Devonport to Cradle Mountain Corridor …

CATHERINE KING: Yeah.

JOURNALIST: …does that include a potential future cableway at Cradle Mountain?

CATHERINE KING: Well, what I fund out of the infrastructure Investment Program is land transport. So I fund road, and that's really what I, as Transport and Infrastructure Minister, are- looking at. Obviously, if there is a request to build a- [indistinct] which had some previous money but really was substantially underfunded, realistically the amount of money that was allocated wasn't going to go anywhere near actually building that. In order- if that is what the Tasmanian Government wants instead of the roads, then they'll need to come and put forward a proposition to either me or to the Prime Minister about what that looks like. What this money will do is- really substantially looking at the road infrastructure, and how do you get people up there by car or bus.

JOURNALIST: And on the- maybe on the seafarers, that $16.9 million – so would that go directly to the AMC, or will it go to a shipping company?

CATHERINE KING: So we're just working through that at the moment. Obviously, we will need to work both with shipping companies, with colleges and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, who also have the Jobs and Skills Australia, to look at how we can commission those berths. The money will need to obviously go to the shippers themselves to actually pay for the berths on the ships, but we just want to make sure we’ve got that pipeline well and truly ready there. We’ve seen a great surge of students here through the Australian Maritime College, but what we also want to do is make sure that we’re seeing continued- or we’re seen- to see a surge of students who’re actually wanting to do sea time to actually work on ships, not so much as well as the land side.

JOURNALIST: Realistically, then, how soon could seafarers have that on-sea training?

CATHERINE KING: Well, the money will be available shortly. But again, we’ve got to do that negotiation, and again, you’re seeing- you’ll get a chance to talk to some of the people from SeaLink who are really fantastic at providing sea time for trainees out of the college here. But we’ve still got to do a little bit of work in order to bring that online, but- realistically, the money is available now, but we’ll need to negotiate those berths through with each company.

JOURNALIST: And in terms of the, I suppose [indistinct] as well, how soon, kind of will- like, that money be made available?

CATHERINE KING: Again, it’ll be up to the Tasmanian Government. They have asked requested the money of us. We’re now saying that that is available. They have to put a project proposal report to me, and we’ll release that money once that report’s given to us.

JOURNALIST: And of what- like, you- I suppose I’m seeing of the highways on …

CATHERINE KING: Yeah.

JOURNALIST: … I suppose, on both sides of the Tamar – how crucial is that bridge?

CATHERINE KING: Well, I think it’s- one of the things that people talk about in Launceston particularly is that sort of bottleneck, that you’re really needing- having to go such a long way around to actually get across the river. And being able to make that second crossing feasible to really open up different parts, you’re seeing- a lot of people want to come to Tasmania to live. A lot of people want to- we’re seeing new housing estates pop up, and we’ve really got to make sure we can move people around this in a better way, and really, the second bridge crossing is about that, and so doing that planning work now in anticipation of building a new bridge.