Royal Hobart Hospital redevelopment creating hundreds of Tasmanian jobs

The Hodgman Liberal Government has put the critical redevelopment of the Royal Hobart Hospital back on track, and it is creating hundreds of jobs for Tasmanians.

Earlier this month I toured the refurbishments underway in C-Block of the hospital, work which Tasmanian construction company Fairbrother is managing, with 70 tradespeople employed to carry it out.

I am pleased to announce that further work packages that will directly employ 300 tradespeople, including apprentices, will be presented to a Tasmanian construction industry briefing on Monday, 31 August 2015.

The RHH Redevelopment is a fantastic opportunity for local businesses to be part of building Tasmania’s largest health infrastructure project.

To date, all major refurbishment works packages procured by the Managing Contractor have been sub-contracted to Tasmanian businesses, with Tasmanian business Fairbrother undertaking approximately $14 million of the refurbishment works.

In total the redevelopment project will inject $1.6 billion into the Tasmanian economy, creating 4,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Yet again today we see in the Examiner newspaper another example of the unions pushing a political agenda on behalf of the Labor Party rather than welcoming good news for the people they are supposed to represent.

The simple fact is that the Tasmanian and Australian Governments are paying for the Royal Hobart Hospital Redevelopment – there is no Chinese foreign investment – so the Free Trade Agreement provisions for importing foreign labour do not apply. The union comments reported in the Examiner today are therefore completely false and misleading.

The CFMEU should be welcoming the large number of Tasmanian workers already employed on the RHH redevelopment, and the Managing Contractor’s commitment to involving Tasmanian businesses wherever possible.

Instead they choose to raise the project in the context of a misinformed scare campaign. It is typical of the Labor Party and the Labor-union movement’s tactics.

Where was the CFMEU when the Labor Party ran this project completely off the rails to the point it could never have been completed?

The redevelopment is on track for commencement of demolition of B-Block in April 2016 and the beginning of construction of K-Block in July 2016.

Monday’s briefing by the project’s Managing Contactor, the John Holland Fairbrother Joint Venture, will provide an update on the project and how Tasmanian businesses can take up opportunities to be involved.

The Liberal Government’s Buy Local Policy will apply to all contracts for the construction of K-Block, giving Tasmanian businesses even more opportunity of winning tenders.

Building and construction industry, manufacturing companies supplying the construction sector, and trades and sub-trades considering additional business, are encouraged to attend Monday’s forum at the Hobart Town Hall conference room.
Michael Ferguson, Minister for Health