Media release – Greater Hobart Mayors, 23 May 2023
Active transport headlines Greater Hobart budget priorities
A network of pedestrian and cycling pathways will link Greater Hobart’s activity centres and key destinations under a proposal put to the Tasmanian Government by the Mayors of Hobart, Clarence, Glenorchy and Kingborough Councils.
Ahead of the State Budget being handed down this week, the Greater Hobart Mayors are pressing the state government to invest $6 million to support the delivery of the Greater Hobart Active Transport Network, which will be funded in partnership with the four Councils.
The project forms part of a suite of priorities that the Mayors have presented to the state government, covering key areas across transport, urban development and community sport infrastructure.
In addition to supporting the Greater Hobart Active Transport Network, priorities include additional investment in bus stop infrastructure, unlocking the Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor for development, and addressing community sport and recreation infrastructure.
The Greater Hobart Strategic Partnership 2023-24 State Budget Submission was formally presented to the Tasmanian Government last year and has underpinned engagement with relevant Ministers over several months. It calls on the Tasmanian Government to commit to four key initiatives:
1. Delivering the Greater Hobart Active Transport Network
Strengthening transport connectivity through a dedicated $6 million investment in pedestrian and cycling pathways linking activity centres and key destinations across Greater Hobart.
2. Providing accessible, fit-for-purpose bus stop infrastructure
Making public transport inclusive and accessible by investing an additional $5 million to deliver bus stop infrastructure that is compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
3. Unlocking urban development in the northern suburbs
Activating Greater Hobart’s biggest urban development opportunity by investing $500,000 to unlock the Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor for development.
4. Investing in community sport and recreation facilities
Identifying sport and recreation infrastructure priorities across Greater Hobart by contributing $200,000 towards a comprehensive infrastructure strategy.
Quotes attributable to Mayor Paula Wriedt (Kingborough Council)
“We all know Greater Hobart will experience significant population growth over the coming decades.
“Working together as Mayors, we’ve identified a number of projects that support this growth and align with the state government’s agenda; projects that are of mutual importance to our Councils and communities.
“We are calling on the state government to modestly increase funding to these projects in the upcoming budget, which will help to support and manage our growing communities.”
Quotes attributable to Mayor Brendan Blomeley (Clarence City Council)
“The Greater Active Transport Network is an agreed set of projects that will deliver linked pathways across Greater Hobart, supporting active transport options such as bikes and scooters while helping to reduce pressure on our road network.
“Further funding is required to accelerate this work and deliver the network across Greater Hobart. This will be important to integrate and get right, particularly as the State Government looks to expand the Derwent Ferry network. We are therefore calling on the Tasmanian Government to contribute $6 million to enable our Councils to get on with the job of planning and delivering the key projects identified by this plan.”
Quotes attributable to Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds (City of Hobart)
“As a capital city, we need to provide public transport that is inclusive and accessible with appropriate comfort and amenity. This can only be achieved by the state government stepping up with further funding.
“We want to see our public transport system become a much more attractive option for Greater Hobart commuters, which means significant upgrades to bus stop infrastructure are required.
“While we acknowledge the state government’s initial investment to upgrade certain bus stops, it’s clear that more funding will be required for all bus stops to meet DDA compliance – a very important issue that Tasmania is lagging behind most other states in addressing.”
Quotes attributable to Mayor Bec Thomas (Glenorchy City Council)
“The Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor is arguably our biggest urban development opportunity. We’re calling on the government to fund important preparatory work that is needed to make the corridor ‘development ready’ for industry, which will unlock much-needed housing options and mixed use development.
“We’re also calling on the government to work with our four councils to deliver a Greater Hobart Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Strategy. This will help address a number of common challenges across Greater Hobart including seasonal congestion across sporting codes, inadequate facilities to support the growth of women and girls sports, and a general need for modern, fit-for-purpose sporting facilities.”
Brendan Blomeley is the Mayor of Clarence City Council, Bec Thomas is the Mayor of Glenorchy City Council, Anna Reynolds is the Lord Mayor of the City of Hobart and Paula Wriedt is the Mayor of Kingborough Council.
Media release – David O’Byrne MP, Member for Franklin, 24 May 2023
Key Tasman Highway upgrade hopelessly delayed as Minister Ferguson admits to planning stuff-up
A 2018 Liberal election commitment to upgrade the Tasman Highway to a dual carriageway between the Hobart Airport and the Midway Point causeway has become hopelessly delayed due to a State Government stuff-up with environmental planning and approvals.
Franklin MP David O’Byrne described the revelation as ‘a kick in the guts’ to frustrated commuters who are now facing many more years of queueing up to converge into a single lane just past the airport.
“Just seven months ago, Infrastructure Minister Michael Ferguson said that construction would begin this month to widen this congested stretch of highway, with completion due next year,” said Mr O’Byrne.
“But today, Minister Ferguson basically admitted that he and his department have completely bungled the planning and approvals process. We are hearing that much of the approvals process has stalled or not commenced at all.
“Given the approval and construction times, we could see up to four more years of this single-lane bottleneck which is already causing massive delays for those travelling along the Tasman Highway. It’s already been five years since this upgrade was announced, how much more time do they need?
“Despite the new Hobart Airport flyover upgrade, motorists will still be merging into a single lane just a few hundred metres up the road for several years to come.
“In answer to my question to him in Parliament, Minister Ferguson admitted to ‘complex and lengthy’ planning issues at the site, but completely failed to accept responsibility or provide a revised completion timeline.
“It’s not good enough to for the Minister to now blame ‘environmental issues’ for these new delays, because he and his government have known about these issues for at least five years.
“It’s genuinely hard to find a single piece of infrastructure that this Liberal Government have delivered on time.”
Editor’s note: Until now we have been publishing any media releases by David O’Byrne under a Labor Party banner. The use of these banners are effectively a Tasmanian Times decision to help readers identify content as they scroll down the page. In most cases, media releases are sent out under a banner and we use the banners provided. In the case of David O’Byrne, his media releases are now sent out by his own staffer and not the Labor Party media team, and they arrive without any banner. Therefore, despite O’Byrne having been re-elected on on the Labor Party ticket in 2021, his estrangement from the party seems more or less permanent so as of today we have ceased using the Labor Party banner for his media releases.
