Tasmania was Australia's leader in renewable energy for 100 years, right up until this year when South Australia took over.
Under my leadership, Labor will take Tasmania back to the top.
Tasmania has a huge opportunity to secure an offshore wind industry that will provide a future for Tasmanian workers through well-paid, safe, employment opportunities. The projects will create at least 5,000 jobs during construction and the maintenance for offshore wind will create at least 700 permanent, skilled, well-paid northern jobs - more if we can earn work on Victorian Bass Strait projects too.
But we need to get moving. Development capital is being allocated as we speak, and Tasmania is already falling behind. Bell Bay does not have the port infrastructure to support offshore wind, and there's no plan to deliver it.
Even just the port upgrades will be a massive project - Geelong Port recently announced a $500 million plan to support offshore wind. While a lot of it will ultimately be funded commercially by port users, there's likely going to be a need for an upfront capital contribution from the government.
That's why I'm calling on the new Minister for Infrastructure to issue a Ministerial Direction to TasPorts to get a design and business case developed prior to the next Federal election. If he does, I will do everything I can to help secure funding commitments and I'll pledge my party's full support to expedite any approvals that are necessary.
If additional funding is required for the designs and business case, the government should consider bringing forward some of the $5 million set aside over the next three years to support business to connect with the renewable energy opportunities in Bell Bay. Getting the infrastructure right first has to be the priority.
We cannot afford to get bogged down in bureaucratic nonsense like we have seen with the ferries fiasco in Devonport and the Nuyina refuelling debacle in Hobart. We can't have the Liberals and their broken government businesses mucking around for years while another opportunity is lost.
The upgrades will take time to design, approve and construct. But we need the infrastructure in place in the next five years - and certainty about the project well before that. We must get moving, urgently, or we risk missing out altogether.
We need to learn from the mistakes the Liberals made with hydrogen and the Spirits. The government seem to be putting the cart before the horse again, talking about grant schemes and taxpayer-funded programs to help local businesses benefit from the emergence of offshore wind. But that's pointless if there's no port. Just like the hydrogen grants were pointless when there's no power or water. Just like the two new Spirits will be unusable until the berth's ready.
Labor is determined to get moving on the big projects that will set our economy up for decades to come, and create thousands of safe, secure, well-paid jobs.
Dean Winter MP
Labor Leader
Shadow Minister for Trade & Major Investment
