“Speaker the fact that Tasmania receives more GST per capita than other states is much remarked upon.
“Regrettably the commentary from the mainland is sometimes shrill and unhelpful, for instance from the Premier of Western Australia, Colin Barnett, who has gone so far as to describe Tasmania as a beggar state.
“Of course it’s not as simple as that because there are many reasons why Tasmania receives, and must continue to receive, more GST per capita than other states, including our relatively poor health outcomes and the fact Tasmania simply doesn’t have the mining revenue stream enjoyed by Western Australia.
“Relevant too is Bass Strait, no small matter when you consider not so much the length of the journey or the treachery of the waters, but the very high costs involved which make some commercial endeavours unsustainable or at least marginal.
“For instance a friend told me recently he was getting about $20 for a kilogram of wool but was having to spend about $1 of that just to get it to Victoria. Another tells me his family’s manufacturing enterprise in Hobart is paying $1,500 to send a container to Melbourne and that’s three times the cost of sending the container on from Melbourne to China.
“And Speaker it’s not just exports that are being hit with the costs being imposed by the shipping lines and port authorities. For instance one constituent told me last year he’d transported a pre-fabricated swimming pool from Brisbane to Hobart and two thirds of the almost $15,000 freight cost was just to get the prime mover and trailer over and back across Bass Strait.
“Speaker this is a ridiculous situation and one which really should have been remedied by the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme that was introduced in 1976 and is budgeted to cost $102m this financial year.
“In essence the Scheme is designed to help reduce freight costs associated with sea transport. It operates under ministerial directions and guidelines issued by the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and applies to northbound goods, southbound manufacturing and mining goods and primary production.
“The trouble is the amount of money available is simply inadequate, and even more so on account of the Federal Government’s decision to reduce the funding in recent years.
“Moreover the scheme is too narrow seeing as goods bound for international export are specifically excluded. For example the boots made by Blundstone in Hobart must first be shipped to Melbourne before being transferred to overseas-bound vessels, but yet they attract no subsidy for the Bass Strait leg even though this constitutes about half of the total freight cost from Tasmania to North America and other destinations.
“Importantly Speaker this subsidy exclusion for the Tasmania-Victoria leg for international exports is a very significant cost of business and one entirely unavoidable ever since the direct international shipping link out of Bell Bay in northern Tasmania ceased in 2011.
“Mind you it’s not for want of trying that this particular problem continues because the Tasmanian Exporters’ Group, headed by Bob Gozzi, has been working hard to resurrect a direct overseas freight service and has attracted some interest from the Swire Group at least. Special mention should also go to Doug Dickinson who advocates tirelessly for remedying Tasmania’s freight woes, and to Peter Brohier who continues to push for broader reforms that would see the cost of crossing Bass Straight come down to the cost of travelling a similar distance by road.
“Speaker bringing down the cost of moving people and freight to and from Tasmania is indeed the one thing governments can do at relatively low cost to bolster the Tasmanian economy and reduce its dependency on Canberra.
“But as far as freight at least goes it needs to apply to all goods, in and out including international exports; something that could be done quickly and simply by expanding the existing freight scheme and giving it the funding to match, perhaps another $60m a year.
“Speaker I’ve lobbied the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader on this matter and trust they have the sense to act on my concerns. Last year Canberra did provide a one-off $20m assistance package for international exporters but that didn’t go far and the Tasmanian Government pilfered a quarter of it for other purposes anyway. We can but hope that the dynamics of an election year will generate a more effective and enduring solution.”
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