A Labor Government will invest $150 million into northern Tasmania’s network of ports and other key infrastructure to support the creation and growth of export businesses.
The plan is a key initiative in Labor’s fully costed jobs plan Working for Tasmania.
Labor Leader Rebecca White said a lack of investment in the state’s ports is constraining Tasmania’s export industries and putting a handbrake on business growth and job creation.
“There is a great opportunity here that we must seize and we need to support new and developing export possibilities, as well as existing industries,” Ms White said.
“Bell Bay is a prime example of what we can do to take Tasmania forward into an exciting new future. The work that’s being done at the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone to develop major emerging technologies like hydrogen energy puts this area at the forefront of a whole new industry.”
Labor’s Sea Highway initiative will invest $150 million into northern ports and drive down costs for exporters.
It includes $10 million at Bell Bay Port to create multiple berths for forestry and mining exports, increase the port’s fuel storage capacity, replace old fuel pipelines and establish a new transport and wash-down system for forestry exports.
The investment would complement and support TasPorts’ plans to invest significantly in the Bell Bay port to support emerging industries including hydrogen.
Ms White said the Sea Highway initiative is an important part of Labor’s plan to stimulate the economy, foster business growth and get Tasmanians into secure jobs.
“Our jobs plan is fully costed, it includes achievable savings and redirected government spending and, critically, it will work,” Ms White said.
“The best thing we can do to strengthen the economy and put the budget on a pathway back to sustainability is to get people back into work.
“Labor’s jobs plan will build a better and fairer Tasmania.”
Rebecca White MP
Labor Leader
