Liberal Senator Guy Barnett has been caught out misleading Tasmanians.

In a press release issued today, the Senator asserted: “After more than two years in office and the Federal Labor Government have not funded one project in regional Tasmania.”

This is a fairytale and another chapter in the Liberals never ending campaign of misinformation.

The Rudd Labor Government is making an unprecedented investment in the social and economic infrastructure of regional Tasmania. The facts are these:

• Over the past 12 months, we’ve provided regional councils with $13.2 million in community infrastructure funding, money they have been using to build new and refurbish existing local amenities such as public libraries, sporting facilities, parks and playgrounds, and child care centres.

So far we’ve funded 128 new projects in regional Tasmania, including Burnie’s new West Park Sports Facility, the redevelopment of Launceston’s Aurora Stadium and West Tamar Council’s multipurpose community and wellbeing centre.

In the Parliament, Senator Barnett and his Liberal Party colleagues voted against every dollar of this funding and the local jobs it’s supporting.

• In partnership with local councils, we’re investing more than $2 million to build better cycling infrastructure in Launceston, Burnie, St Helens, Prospect Vale, Strahan and Tullah.


• We’re investing almost $350 million over six years to upgrade and modernise the State’s regional road and rail infrastructure – more than double what our predecessors spent over a similar period of time.

Work on a number of these projects is already underway, including the Brighton Bypass and the upgrade of the main north-south rail line.

• Every regional school is being upgraded as part of the biggest school modernisation program in the nation’s history. Again, every dollar of this investment was opposed by Senator Barnett and his Liberal colleagues.

Either Senator Barnett has no idea what’s going on in his own State or has set out to deliberately deceive people. Unfortunately, given the modus operandi of his new leader, it’s probably the later.