Press conference - New Bridgewater Bridge

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

TASMANIAN DEPUTY PREMIER AND MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORT, MICHAEL FERGUSON: Thank you very much for joining us, in particular welcome to Minister Catherine King, from the recently elected Federal Government. And I've been very pleased to be working with Catherine already in the first month or two since the election and getting our priorities, between the Tasmanian Government and the Australian Government. And I'd have to say, quite frankly, that our priorities are very well aligned for the transport infrastructure for our State going forward. I served with Catherine in the Federal Parliament between 2004 and 2007 and have known Catherine as a real person of effort and passion and focus for her electorate and for our country. So congratulations, Catherine, on your recent election and your elevation in the Ministry as well for the second time, and today we're joined also by Brian Mitchell, the local Federal Labor Member for Lyons, and my Liberal colleague, Jane Howlett. The reason we are gathered here today is because we're hitting milestones for the delivery of the New Bridgewater Bridge. The Tasmanian and the Australian Governments have fully funded this project. It has all of its planning approvals, which I'm personally delighted about, considering it's the first client for the Major Projects Legislation. We've received a planning permit, as required under all of the legislation, including the demolition of the old bridge. And also this project has been now awarded and all of the contract documentation has been completed and executed with McConnell Dowell.

What's great about this project is it's been talked about for decades, and we're delivering it here and now. As you're aware, you can see the barges are on the water, we're seeing marine and landside geotechnical works. McConnell Dowell have a project plan for design and construction, and will commence major works in the coming months. This bridge will be open to traffic by 2024. And the project entirely will be completed in the following year. Also, what's great about this project is that it is not only an asset that will be safer, more contemporary, but it will connect our Midland Highway to the Booker Highway with four continuous lanes. Of course importantly, it will deliver safe access for pedestrians and cyclists, with our active transport that’s provided for on the bridge as well. And importantly a 16 metre [inaudible] which means that it's continually open to river traffic as is the Bowen bridge. This will see 800 jobs created at least 200 directly, 25% of the jobs, that we will see on this site will be locally delivered in the municipalities of Glenorchy, Brighton and Bridgewater. So I think this is a win win for Tasmania, for the Australian Government and for the people of our Southern community.

Remembering always that this is a bridge for the whole state. It connects the entirety of Northern and Central Tasmania to its capital city. And with clever interchanges on both sides of the bridge, making sure that we have really effective access for the Lyall and East Derwent Highway communities as well. So welcome, Catherine. And thank you so much for your continued commitment to this project.

MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, CATHERINE KING: Thanks very much, Minister Ferguson and Deputy Premier. It is so lovely to be here on an incredibly magnificent Tasmanian day with Michael Ferguson, we've just had a really productive meeting. Whilst Michael and I have been speaking over the phone, it's the first time I've had a chance to actually come here and sit down with him to make sure that we're delivering together both as a State and Federal Government for the people of Tasmania, also to my parliamentary colleague Brian and to the State parliamentary colleague, who are here with us today. This is an incredibly important project for the State. We're very pleased to see that planning approvals have all been done, contracts are awarded and that we're starting to see some real action here at the Bridgewater Bridge. This has been a long time coming. But, I think what you can see here is State and Federal Governments working closely in partnership to deliver infrastructure projects for the state. This project will be very important for ensuring connectivity of the state, providing active transport and I understand the corridor has been preserved for future public transport needs, if that's something that the state needs in the future, but really making sure about productive economic infrastructure is here in place in Tasmania. I'm looking forward to seeing a little bit later in this year, not too far away the, first work starting and seeing the first pylons driven and actually seeing this bridge come to shape over the course of the next few months to be opened up to traffic first in 2024, which is a really big build. It's a big build for the state. The project is almost over $700 million in total, with 80% of that funded by the Federal Government.

I want to thank Brian for his continued advocacy and [inaudible] to make sure this project actually happened. What this reflects though, is the approach that the Albanese Labor Government wants to have with infrastructure across the country. This is about a partnership. We don't build things at the Commonwealth level, I think sometimes people think we do. We invest. We invest in partnership with State Governments who then go and build those projects. If we are not in alignment in terms of our priorities, and they have to be developed in partnership together, then we don't deliver. And that's the problem we've often seen across other states in the country.

I'm very pleased to have had a productive meeting with Minister Ferguson today, we'll keep talking about the priorities for Tasmania as we head into the May budget next year. There are a number of other areas that I know that he wants to talk to me about. But, I do want to say this is a really important milestone and it's so lovely to be here, seeing lots of activity. And I wish all of the hundreds of workers you're going to see on this site the very best as you start, what is a nation building project for the State of Tasmania, but really for the economic productivity of the country. Thanks for having me.

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR LYONS, BRIAN MITCHELL: Well, this bridge is a long time coming. We've talked about it for years, and it's finally happening. I'd love to see cars on this by the end of 2024. And if that happens, I've got a cake in the shape of a hat that I will eat. And here’s hoping that that happens, because we want this bridge to be built. It's finally happening. If cars are over this bridge, by the end of 2024 I will very happily tuck into a hat shaped cake at the opening ceremony, so the challenge is on Michael. But of course, the most important thing is that we get this Bridge done right the first time. And that's why the design has been so important. More than 20,000 vehicles go over this Bridge currently every day. It's a major arterial route into and out of Hobart, for people in my electorate. They've been calling for this bridge for years. I think they've seen politicians come out to the Bridge year after year after year. And it's just fantastic to be the Federal Member for Lyons and finally seeing this project get underway. So thank you, Michael. Thank you, Catherine, for making this happen.

JOURNALIST: How much of a disruption can we expect this to cause [inaudible]?

FERGUSON: We certainly can say up front that whenever you see major roadworks happen, there will be some disruption. And we always say thank you in advance to our traveling public, for factoring in extra travel time, particularly around projects that are redeveloping existing corridors. What's unique about this particular project is that the major works are in fact being conducted on a new alignment altogether. So, you're actually going to be seeing a new structure being commenced alongside the existing bridge. The existing bridge in alignment will continue to operate while the new bridge is being built. Ultimately, there will be disruptions and we will need to see some traffic management, particularly as we start to connect the new interchanges and switch across traffic to new bridge. But we will always encourage people to keep an eye out for our public messaging. And we'll do our best to work with traffic managers to ensure that it's as seamless as possible for our traveling public.

JOURNALIST: So many stories about this particular project, how can you convince us to write one today?

FERGUSON: Well you should, because we've actually delivered as a Tasmanian Government, as the principle here, all that is required of us. We've actually got our planning permit, which some people were very doubtful about, we succeeded. We've gone through a very innovative procurement process, which for us in Tassie, not for other states, but for us, was quite a new approach of early contractor involvement with a competitive process which we funded on both parties. And we've seen McConnell Dowell be successful there with a very innovative project. We have full funding thanks to the Federal Government. And of course, now we have all of our contract documentation. The onus really now is on the contract and McConnell Dowell to deliver together, in alignment with our project team. So it's good for Tasmania, you're seeing the barges on the water, you're seeing the standing camp being developed and recruitment now underway together with partnerships with local [inaudible] companies. So it's great to see the progress being delivered.  I think we'll all continue to maintain our focus to ensure that that continues.

JOURNALIST: What other big infrastructure projects will you be discussing [inaudible]?

FERGUSON: There are many, as Catherine has kindly said, we do have a very good, productive working relationship. And I'm pleased that both Governments continue to have strong alignment in priorities for transport, whether its land based: we have a shared commitment to expanding the Derwent River Ferry, we have a shared commitment to making the Tasman Bridge strengthened and safer for people. And we've got a shared commitment for regional highways, including the Great Eastern Drive. So, we've got a lot on. But our shared effort, I think, will continue to carry the day and you'll continue to see positive developments. Can I just quickly add that in the last financial year, we saw a record delivery of more than $820 million of successfully built infrastructure, which is a record. And we're very pleased that we've got the capability now, not just within Government, but within our civil contractor community to deliver projects both big and small. And it's for those reasons that it's so great to have just had this meeting earlier today with Catherine continuing our long standing friendship going back I think 18 years now.

JOURNALIST: Just on the stadium proposal, would you like to see the Federal Government commit some funding towards that?

FERGUSON: Well, we certainly would in the fullness of time. Our focus as the Tasmanian Government is with our bid right now and securing of the 19th license from the AFL Commission. We fully expect them to do the right thing by Tasmania, if they really are serious about a national competition, then they've got to introduce the State of Tasmania into that competition. We are after all, a football state, we've contributed more than most to the actual game itself. And our priority right now is securing the license to allow us to establish our team. The Tasmanian Liberal government has pledged $150 million of support to actually establishing the team in a high-performance centre. Having secured a license, we will then turn our thoughts to the development of a stadium. And that's at a later stage, something that we'd be looking forward to having conversations with the corporate sector and with the Federal Government.

JOURNALIST: In terms of the Derwent Ferry expansion, do you have a short list of where you'd like to see some of those new terminals?

FERGUSON: Well, we look forward to the Federal Government's budget in October and I'm assured that that the commitments are going to be met. So, we've already initiated a process of contacting the four local councils, providing them with an opportunity to start to think now about future expansion opportunities. So I won't pre-empt that at the moment. But it's really exciting, that we are even able to have this conversation. Earlier this week, we saw the first anniversary of the Derwent Ferry, it's been an outstanding success. Everybody speaks well of it. And a lot of people are hoping that it will come to a community near them. We will with the Councils, we will work with the Federal Government to make sure that its funding commitment is delivered in a way that means better infrastructure and more opportunities to expand the Derwent Ferry.

JOURNALIST: Would you like Federal funding for the Macquarie Wharf Upgrade?

FERGUSON: As I said last week, that is definitely a priority for the Tasmanian Government. And I'm very pleased that Infrastructure Australia have shortlisted it as a national priority. As I said, last week, we look forward to working with the Federal Government on really zeroing in on some opportunity to fund that. The way that it has to work, though, and I'm a big believer in this process. We will complete the final business analysis and submit that through the proper process through IA (Infrastructure Australia) and I know, the Federal Minister and the Federal team will be more than happy to have a look at that. And no doubt, you know, the onus is on all of us to ensure that it stacks up for the Federal Government to consider as well. But that's very much at an advanced stage and we look forward to continuing those conversations. But I don't think it's proper for me to put the Federal Minister on the spot here today, until those proper steps have been taken. We've got a big appetite for Hobart Port as well as Burnie, to add to our work at Devonport and our land based infrastructure [inaudible].

JOURNALIST: I might just pick up on that. So, when Anthony Albanese was here, he said that the level of action of [inaudible] and now the government wants Federal funding for wharf upgrades. Is that something that you would consider chipping in for?

KING:  We started, frankly, the rehabilitation of [inaudible] when we were last in government and the now Prime Minister, the then Minister for Infrastructure, invested in that proposal. There has been funding for the business case through the Hobart City Deal. We will await the business case, there's obviously some work to do in terms of the Federal Environment Department and the Antarctic Division as well. We want to see projects across Tasmania to provide opportunities for science and research and investment in innovation, we want to see that happen across the State. Really, what today has been about for me, is ensuring that that long-term relationship that I have got with Minister Ferguson continues to the benefit of the State of Tasmania. And obviously, one of the points of discussion is [inaudible], but also has been other Ports around the state, the need for infrastructure investment there, as well as ensuring that we actually deliver on what we've promised to do. That we actually do what we're doing here at Bridgewater Bridge, and we actually start building. I'm not the type of Minister who wants to come out and make grand announcements that look good in an election context, and then three years from now, say well, I can't actually deliver that because we didn't actually do that in partnership with the State. So, this is really about making sure that we're on the same page and that we're working together and delivering like we are here at Bridgewater Bridge.

JOURNALIST: You've committed to upgrading the runway at Hobart airport. When are we likely to see funding flow for that?

KING: So all of our election commitments, including the $60 million for the Hobart Airport, will be part of the October budget. All of the appropriations have to happen for the new money to come to bear. And that will happen as part of the October budget. We will see that money flow after that. The plans are well advanced for Hobart Airport.

JOURNALIST: How likely is it that the Federal Government will chip in for the proposed stadium in Hobart?

KING: Well, I think the first thing to say is that it's important that that 19th license is secured and that the AFL operates in good faith with Tasmanians to ensure that that 19th license is delivered. We will have discussions with the Tasmanian Government about infrastructure needs, including infrastructure needs for sporting facilities to enable that to function well, if that 19th license occurs. But again, this is about not going out too early, not going out and announcing things that we might not be able to deliver. Because, at the end of the day that 19th license is really important. And I would say, the AFL needs to talk to the Tasmanian Government closely about how that happens. We've had lots of fantastic footballers that have come from this state, we've had lots of lots of people who fly or go on the ferry across to Melbourne to watch the footy. You've had games played here; you are a football loving state. And I hope very much that that 19th license happens, and then we will talk constructively with the Tasmanian Government about the infrastructure needs in the state. Whether it's sporting facilities or other facilities, like the Bridgewater Bridge.

JOURNALIST: The State Government has ruled out light rail as a transport option on the northern suburbs railway corridor. Would the Federal Government like to see that kept as a live option?

KING: Well, again, we don't build things, that's the challenge that we have here. I love light rail, I'm a Victorian so of course I would - we still call them trams - I was in the ACT yesterday, talking to them about light rail. But at the end of the day, it really is a matter of the Tasmanian State Government about what is the best fit for this State. And again, I want to work collaboratively with Michael to ensure we improve public transport options across the State. We will talk about that, and the funding I think it's up to around $50 million that's available for that particular project. I think both as part of the City Deal and some extra money that was in the last budget. We'll talk about how we could do that but really, it's about improving public transport, improving connectivity and at the end of the day, I'll work with the Tasmanian State Government as to what that best fit is for the state.