Hobart
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[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OMITTED]
My Government's priority for Tasmania is jobs and growth.
Our plan is for Australia to be a stronger, smarter, fairer nation.
This week, we have delivered more important steps towards those goals for Tasmania.
Stronger: through new investment in infrastructure, including the $500m upgrade of the Midland Highway.
Smarter: through long term plans to improve our schools and new investment in research and skills.
Fairer: by delivering DisabilityCare.
Working together with the state government and the Tasmanian community, we are delivering real steps towards new growth and opportunities.
Our plan for Tasmania means investing in the future. Global economic change is putting real pressure on Tasmanian jobs.
It builds on strategic partnerships and focuses on the things that Tasmania and Tasmanian's do best.
We will build on Tasmania's unique strengths:• its natural resources;• its landscape;• its people;• its creativity and• its reputation for clean, high quality products.
To create growth in sectors that can flourish, create jobs and help young people build their lives in the state through better education and new opportunities.
We are already doing so much.
We are investing in Tasmania's economic backbone.
As the NBN is rolled out across Tasmania the rollout is creating as many as 800 jobs directly, and helping to create many more through businesses and services.
Today I have announced that together with OfficeMax and the Tasmanian Government we are partnering to provide a further 70 skilled jobs to the state.
This is on top of the 700 new jobs I announced with Vodafone last time I was here.
The NBN is providing the backbone for skills based employment for Tasmanians.
These jobs can continue to move here for decades to come.
Tasmania is in the box seat to exploit its early connection to the NBN with roll out due to be completed by 2015.
Only Labor will deliver a genuine NBN for Tasmanian's with the entire community able to benefit from a high speed, high quality network right into their homes and businesses.
This is happening today in communities all around Tasmania.
Hard infrastructure in Tasmania - Road, Rail and Port - has been a significant beneficiary of our doubling of the Commonwealth spend on infrastructure.
I was very pleased that we were able to announce as part of the National building 2 package in the budget a new round of investment and revitalisation for Tasmania's transport arteries, including:
A Midland Highway Package: that will improve safety and reduce travel times.
Freight Rail Revitalisation: To continue the improvements to the major lines on the freight rail network, including replacing approximately 290 track kilometres of old rail track.
We are delivering a smarter future for Tasmania.
Funding for the University of Tasmania has grown by 29 per cent since Labor came to government and will continue to grow over the next three years.
Under the Gillard Government's reforms, the number of Commonwealth Supported Students at the University of Tasmania has increased from 12,540 in 2007 to 18,713 in 2011.
Schools in Tasmania will benefit from around an additional $400 million through the National Plan for School Improvement.
To achieve this, I have committed that for every dollar that the Tasmanian Government is prepared to invest, the Federal Government will pay two.
A new school funding system is crucial to ensure all students and all schools get the money they need to do a great job.
We will match our investment in the foundations of the Tasmanian economy with an approach that supports success.
The natural environment has delivered Tasmania an abundance of gifts. Clean air and land, plentiful rain and sunshine.
These gifts can be transformed into jobs and economic opportunities for Tasmanians.
This is reflected in primary industries like aquaculture, dairy and wine but also in service industries like tourism and hospitality.
Our approach will be to continue to support these successes.
The growth of the dairy and food manufacturing industries has been supported by strategic investments by the Commonwealth and is an example of what is possible.
What is needed now is to develop further scale advantages and build on the innovations that farmers and processors will need to deliver sustainable long term growth and the jobs that come with it.
Our Plan has already made important progress across these areas and we are set to build on those success.
I have taken the decision that the time for this investment is now.
With the passage of legislation to support an historic accord in the forestry industry we need to move forward rapidly with our plan for jobs and growth.
To do this, as part of the Federal budget I have brought forward the investments this government will make in economic diversification.
Rather than spreading out our investment over 15 years we will focus our efforts and deliver a more focused injection to drive job creation and seize new opportunities for the Tasmanian economy.
To do this we will deliver our investment in just 4 years.
We have also decided on a modest increase of this fund, so that there is $100 million available over the next four years, to be invested in smart ways to drive the growth of sectors that can prosper, in Tasmania, in this Asian century.
The challenge now to operationalize our plan and deliver on all the potential there is here: through smart, targeted investments.
I have asked Minister Albanese to lead this work.
In doing that, I want to draw on the best advice from Tasmanians - experts and entrepreneurs, as we continue to deliver.
Tasmanian ALP caucus members have been out in the community, working with them and advocating for them in Canberra.
The delivery of our plan will still be linked to the successful implementation of the forestry agreement and ongoing market stability.
That stability is what the Tasmanian economy needs, and what the Tasmanian community expects.
The opponents of that stability are those who continue to attack the forestry agreement and attack the other long term investments we are making in the future of our economy because it does not serve their own narrow interests.
The Australian Government will continue making investments in Tasmania, building on the investments we have already made.
The key to growth and jobs now is how we work together to seize those opportunities.
I and my senior Ministers will be working in the weeks and months ahead to make sure that we do take those opportunities, and that Tasmanians benefit from the right investments for the future.