Deputy Labor Leader Anita Dow's attempts at rewriting history regarding the once-in-a-generation $786 million Bridgewater Bridge project cannot go unchallenged, but in typical form Labor aren't letting facts get in the way of talking Tasmania down.
The facts are really quite simple.
The Tasmanian and Australian Governments agreed to inject an additional $210 million into the project in late 2021 – well before the plans for the bridge were even finalised – to include seamless traffic interchanges at each end of the bridge within the one project scope.
The initial cost of $576 million was for the bridge itself - not the roadworks on either side.
Careful negotiation by the Tasmanian Government helped deliver the additional funding for the overall project design based on community feedback. When the bridge opens to the public next year it will allow for free-flowing traffic connections to and from New Norfolk and the Derwent Valley, as well as Boyer Road and Bridgewater. Evidently something Tasmanian Labor don't see as important.
As for the time it's taking to deliver this huge infrastructure project, the option remained to partially open the bridge this year however we've made decisions based on the best outcome for Tasmanians. Rather than opening one lane of traffic in each direction at 60km/h by the end of 2024, we have taken the project team's advice to keep the bridge closed until we can open all four lanes at 80km/h during the first half of 2025.
This allows the project team to complete the job safely and more efficiently – something I'd have assumed Labor would be supportive of.
Ms Dow's disingenuous claims are just another example of Labor's relentless negativity.
It was good enough for Ms Dow's Tasmanian Parliamentary colleague Rebecca White to stand alongside the Premier yesterday, turning up to share in the publicity this fantastic piece of infrastructure is generating despite having nothing to do with the project.
Labor had 16 years in office to deliver the funding for a replacement Bridgewater Bridge – and their record remains a hallmark of the former Labor-Green Government's failure.
I can't be clearer: the Bridgewater Bridge project is on time and on budget, and is a terrific example of what Tasmanians can achieve when we work together.
