What the Tasmanian Liberals will do:

Provide real change with up to $6.4 million to improve roads and community assets on Flinders Island.

The Furneaux Group is a significant part of the State, renowned for its natural beauty and enviable lifestyle, but facing particular challenges in the modern world, particularly in regard to the reliability of transport links.

What the Liberals will do

Shipping services
A Hodgman Liberal Government will ensure that the Flinders Island community is the master of its own destiny regarding the future of shipping services on the island.  Rather than the State Government subsidy for shipping services being paid directly to the operator of a shipping service as has been done unsuccessfully in the past, we will provide $750,000 over three years directly to the Flinders Council.

In conjunction with the Council we will establish a board to oversee and be responsible for arranging contracts for service between the Island and an appropriate shipping company(s). This board will contain at a minimum one representative from the State Government, one representative from Tasports as well as representatives from Flinders Island Council.

Lady Barron port Redevelopment
We recognise from the report recently commissioned by the Flinders Council to develop a ports vision for the Island that there is a real and significant need for a long term strategic upgrade of port facilities.

A Hodgman Liberal government will ensure that as a part of the development of the State wide infrastructure plan our new independent statutory body Infrastructure Tasmania will prepare in the first 9 months of our government that a strategic 10 year ports plan be developed for Flinders Island.

The independent body we will establish, Infrastructure Tasmania, will then provide recommendations to Government for funding based on its independent assessment of strategic priorities.  We will ensure that the Flinders Council’s own recently-commissioned report on ports is used as the starting point for the development of the 10 year plan. Once recommendations are received we will ask the Tasmanian Ports Corporation to develop a schedule of works on a priority basis to bring the plan to fruition. We expect that works in the order of up to $5M will be necessary however that will be determined during the Infrastructure Tasmania process.

Whitemark Master Plan
There is a need for a Master Plan to be developed for Whitemark.  The town has developed over time in the absence of a plan and in some cases this has allowed a mismatch of development to occur.

A Hodgman Liberal Government will provide $100,000 to help develop a Master Plan, in partnership with the Flinders Council.  This will enable a Master Plan to be developed that will clearly define growth and development strategies for the town and ensure that future development is appropriate.

Among other elements, the Master Plan will include issues such as population, residential and natural resource management, commercial and industrial development, transport, access and future infrastructure.

Energy
There is a need to consider alternative options for energy generation other than continuing to burn diesel fuel.  The Renewable Energy Industry Development Board has recommended to the State Government a $21.2 million plan to boost renewable energy on the Bass Strait Islands.

Whilst we welcome the Board’s recommendation and will ensure that Flinders island receives its fair share of this investment, we believe that the important first step for the longer term financial and energy security of the Island is to develop a model that enables the Flinders Council and the community of the Furneaux Group of islands to be active participants in the development of renewable energy on the island.

In partnership with the Flinders Council we will provide $150,000 to develop a strategic community ownership model that will enable the council and the community to jointly invest in a model of renewable power generation that will reduce the need for subsidised diesel generation and provide a revenue stream back to the community, whilst keeping electricity costs down.

Under our proposal a community ownership model will be developed incorporating the Council, Hydro and/or Roaring 40’s as well as private investors from within the Flinders Island community.  We will bring together the best of our renewable energy expertise with the local community to ensure that a model is developed that will enable every resident on the island to benefit as well as ensuring that the community benefits through improved service.

The Flinders Island community deserves to be given the opportunity to not only share in the generation of clean renewable energy but also to benefit from the development of an ongoing revenue stream that will enable the council to invest in better services for the community.  We will establish the model and then with the Renewable Energy Industry Development Board determine the capital mix that is required to ensure that the ownership model provides the community with the outcomes it requires.

Taking the brand to the world
Flinders Island has a very good local brand. It is our belief that this brand can be strengthened and enhanced and can become a major strength for the Island.

We have recently announced a strong $6.5 million policy to protect and develop the Tasmanian Brand with the establishment of the Tasmanian Brand Commissioner whose role will be to strengthen, develop and coordinate the overarching Tasmanian brand.

We will ensure that this office works very closely with the Flinders Island community to ensure that the Flinders Island Brand is developed to its full potential.

The Tasmanian Liberals understand that establishing a brand presence costs money.  Therefore we will commit to ensuring that Flinders Island through the Brand Commissioner has access to $180,000 funding to ensure that assistance with marketing the quality produce and products from the Island is available for a three year period.

Link road
Flinders Council has provided a strong case for the transfer of the main link road on the Island B85 from Lady Barron to Palana to be transferred to the state Government.  We are happy to consider that request and understand that a similar agreement already exists on King Island.

A Hodgman Liberal Government will reduce the financial strain on the Council’s budget by immediately committing to $220,000 for the 2010-11 year and will consider a formal transfer of the road to the State Government once due diligence occurs in the light of the similar agreement with King Island Council.

Continuation of Transitional program funding
There is currently a successful transition program being run that assists young islanders who have to leave their homes to continue education or employment on mainland Tasmania.  The program is supported by the Youth Development officer and has been very successful in assisting young people transition into education or employment.  We believe that this is a worthwhile program to continue and will support it for the next three years with $30,000.