Transcript - ABC Northern Tasmania radio

EVAN WALLACE: Against the political backdrop of the state government’s bungled delivery of the new Spirit of Tasmania ferries, Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Catherine King, has been in Burnie to check out a number of projects that are set to benefit Tasmania’s north west. The Burnie shiploader, which is now complete and will assist in shipping materials off for export, and sections of the Burnie Cultural Precinct, which are now open to the public. Minister, good morning.

CATHERINE KING: Good morning, Evan. It’s lovely to be with you.

EVAN WALLACE: Now, before we talk infrastructure, you're a mum. We just heard some lovely reflections for National Children's Week. Do you have a favourite nursery rhyme?

CATHERINE KING: Oh gosh. Isn't that funny? I had this little - there was a little Italian one called Sleep My Baby that I used to sing to my little boy, which I - [indistinct], I think it was called. And I used to sing that to him, so that was my favourite one, but hasn't rubbed off. My son is now six foot five and 16, knows everything and towers over me and doesn't sing or speak any Italian.

EVAN WALLACE: Oh, shame, shame. Now, look, you've been in Burnie, checking out some major infrastructure projects, including the new Port of Burnie shiploader. What sort of difference will the new shiploader make to communities and businesses who call north and north west Tasmania home?

CATHERINE KING: Well, what it does is - I actually had a chance to look at the old shiploader back in 2022. It was one of the first projects I visited after we came to government with Senator Anne Urquhart. It was a pretty rainy old day then, and you could tell this 1968 facility, whilst it had done Burnie proud and the people of the community proud, she was a bit tired and wasn't working and functioning in the way that it should do. In particular, what you could see was that it didn't meet OH&S standards. Workers really were stringing it together and trying to make it work. So this new shiploader meets all the new OH&S standards, the new cabin’s really comfortable, but it also loads more. It's loaded already over 40,000 tonnes in freight. But what it also does is it's very much part of the entire freight system here in Tasmania, getting those minerals to export, getting trucks off the road. So making sure that you've got those facilities. We've also- there's also the bulk minerals export facility. There's further money to go in that project. So really it's about making sure Tasmania and the north west continues to have great facilities to export its products.

EVAN WALLACE: But if you are in the north and north west and you're scratching your head and think, oh, it might just be a bit of a politician ease there, just what sort of tangible difference will it make if you're a business or a community member?

CATHERINE KING: Well, it means that you can load more of your products onto the ships and more quickly, and that's more efficient for the way in which you go about doing business. It means, potentially, that there can be more investment in some of the mines, more minerals coming out of Tasmania, and that means jobs.

EVAN WALLACE: Succinctly put. Now, your government is contributing to a number of major infrastructure projects in Tasmania. In Launceston, you've allocated $65 million for the UTAS Stadium; in Hobart, $240 million for the Macquarie Point Precinct. On the mines, wherever you go in Launceston, where I am, people are talking about the state government's bungled handling of the new Spirit of Tasmania ferries. Do you still have faith in the state government as an infrastructure partner after its bungled handling of the new Spirits, Minister?

CATHERINE KING: Well, obviously, in terms of TasPorts and the Spirit of Tasmania as a government business enterprise, it has to work in the best interests of Tasmanians and I'm sure it's under a fair bit of scrutiny at the moment and the government will need to deal with that. I'm really confident we've been delivering really big projects with the Tasmanian government for a long time. The Bridgeport Bridge is probably the largest of those at the moment. But I just drove over in Burnie, the upgrades to the bridge there, the walking tracks and the shiploader obviously is something I think Tasmanians can be very proud of.

It has been delivered largely- it's been delivered by TasRail, but it has been delivered by contracts with Tasmanian companies, built for Tasmania by Tasmanians, as we heard yesterday. The steel manufacturer from Haywards, I think also the builder. You've got some terrific companies here, and the- really, the issue with mega projects and these sorts of things is that, you know, really making sure that we've got good scrutiny on those is part of what my department is involved in, and also why I've stepped Infrastructure Australia up much more into the space of evaluation, learning from projects as we go. So we build a lot of things with the Tasmanian government, so I'm sure the Tasmanian Government will be looking at what's gone wrong in terms of TasPorts and the ships as well, and learning lessons from that.

EVAN WALLACE: But you still have full faith in the Tasmanian Government as an infrastructure partner?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah. Well the projects we're delivering with them, they have done well at and we continue to work really closely with them in terms of that. And I look forward to continuing to do that as well as delivering with the local councils along this coast.

EVAN WALLACE: So you're confident that with the likes of the UTAS Stadium, the Macquarie Point precinct, that these projects will be delivered on time and on budget?

CATHERINE KING: Well, my department works really closely with the Tasmanian Government. We get project status reports, we make milestone payments, we're all over it. And so we have a lot of confidence in working with the Tasmanian Government. They've been a proven delivery partner for many, years on projects that we co-invest with them on.

EVAN WALLCE: You've talked about some of the steps that you might be taking with respect to oversight, and there are probably a lot of listeners wondering whether your government is going to take any extra steps, given what we've seen with the bungled handling of the Spirit of Tasmania ferries to ensure these projects stay on track. So speaking directly to those individuals who are feeling a bit dubious, or feeling- questioning just how well and how effectively these projects could get off the ground, what are those steps that your government is going to take to ensure that they do remain on track and on budget?

CATHERINE KING: So every project requires a report to me before we release any money. And then there are milestone payments that happen across that. I've got department officials looking through that all the time and basically making decisions about where projects are ready. We do a lot of planning work before we start projects, before we commit any money to them, to make sure we actually have a really good handle on what the costs are going to be. Obviously, there are always things that happen from supply chain issues to labour, conditions. Obviously COVID added costs as well. And we factor those in when we're doing some of the planning work and we've got much better at doing that. So that always happens. Milestone payments are through. And then the other thing I've done is introduced with Infrastructure Australia some post-evaluation work, so we learn. But mega projects, really- those ones we call them over 250 million, are always really difficult and they do require extra level of scrutiny. And that's what we do when we're co-investing with the Tasmanian government.

EVAN WALLACE: So does that mean if that those projects fall off track, that they're behind schedule, that you'll just withhold payment from the Tasmanian Government?

CATHERINE KING: We can do that. Or there can be other mitigation measures put in place. So certainly the first thing we ask is what's happening. But really the way in which it works between the Commonwealth and the Tasmanian Government is we are in constant contact about where projects are up to, where milestones are up to, and that work is constant. So really our expectation is that- we don't- there's no surprises. We don't suddenly hear that there is something going wrong with the project. We know if something's happening and we can work out what mitigation needs to be put in place for that. But of course, ultimately under the deeds that we have, the agreements we have with- we can withhold payments and we don't make final payments until quite some time after a project has actually been finished.

EVAN WALLACE: And very quickly Catherine King, in 30 seconds or so, there is an election around the corner. You are in Tasmania's north west today. If you're someone listening in the north west and you're struggling to keep a roof above your family's head and put food on the table, what's the one thing that your government has done that's made the biggest difference to make their lives easier?

CATHERINE KING: Well, the biggest thing that we've done is absolutely tackle inflation We've halved inflation since we came to office at the same time as providing cost of living relief, to take the sting out of this cost of living crisis where we can. So obviously the tax breaks, cheaper medicines, really concentrating on getting childcare fees down and investing in that, is an investment into our futures.

EVAN WALLACE: More than one thing there, Minister. But before I let you go…

CATHERINE KING: [Interrupts] There’s never one.

EVAN WALLACE: … your favourite TV variety show?

CATHERINE KING: Oh gosh, I knew you were going to ask me that, and it’s funny, I don’t watch a lot of TV, what I have been watching on, I think, Apple TV, is Slow Horses. If everyone hasn’t seen it, it’s not really a variety TV show, but that’s the one thing. And I think last Christmas my favourite thing I did over summer, was I lay on the couch, and I watched the entire series of Ted Lasso.

EVAN WALLACE: Always good to have a laugh. Minister Catherine King, thanks for joining us on Northern Tasmania Breakfast.

CATHERINE KING: Really good to be with you, Evan.