tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2012:/media-releases//3 2012-01-10T00:40:21Z Movable Type 3.35 tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2012:/media-releases//3.281 2012-01-09T00:39:36Z 2012-01-10T00:40:21Z

Infrastructure Minister David O’Byrne must immediately release the list of roads currently being considered for a reduction in the default speed limit from 100km to 90km....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com Infrastructure Minister David O’Byrne must immediately release the list of roads currently being considered for a reduction in the default speed limit from 100km to 90km. Following concerns about the nature of the information available during the last consultation process, Tasmanians deserve transparency on this issue. There is no doubt that David O’Byrne’s enthusiasm for the project is simply a way to cheaply and easily abrogate his responsibilities to fix the state’s road infrastructure, which has consistently been given ‘fail’ marks by Engineering Australia. Regional Tasmania, including areas such as the East Coast, has strong views about wholesale speed reductions, with the difference of 20km/h between the state’s main highways and regional highways becoming a disincentive to tour the whole state. The only fair way forward from here is for the Minister to immediately release the list of roads under consideration for a reduction, and allow for genuine community feedback of the wisdom of the proposed action. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2012:/media-releases//3.280 2012-01-05T00:38:21Z 2012-01-10T00:39:18Z

Following reports of a concerning number of disqualified and suspended drivers caught drink driving on Tasmanian roads over the Christmas period, the Liberals renew call for the automatic impoundment of vehicles for detected disqualified and suspended drivers....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com Following reports of a concerning number of disqualified and suspended drivers caught drink driving on Tasmanian roads over the Christmas period, the Liberals renew call for the automatic impoundment of vehicles for detected disqualified and suspended drivers. In recent years it has been identified that huge numbers of disqualified and suspended drivers have continued to drive with impunity on the state’s roads, with hundreds of drivers caught each year. Under Liberal pressure, the Labor Government previously agreed to automatic impoundment of vehicles for detected disqualified and suspended drivers, however in a weak-kneed back down chose only to make it for the second offence. This is an appalling message to send to drivers, especially given the fact that disqualified drivers have been ordered by a court of law not to get behind the wheel of a car on the basis that they have proven to be dangerous. For Labor and the Greens to only impound cars on the second offence in no way matches the severity of the behavior undertaken by drivers. There is nothing more important than the safety of Tasmanians and the Liberals will continue to fight to ensure that Tasmanians are safe on the state’s roads. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.279 2011-12-30T00:37:21Z 2012-01-10T00:38:08Z

Tasmania maintains its "closed for business" status under this Labor-Green Government while Local Government Minister Bryan Green ignores the increasing legal tangle which caused the State's capital city council to cede its decision-making powers to a council officer at its...

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com Tasmania maintains its "closed for business" status under this Labor-Green Government while Local Government Minister Bryan Green ignores the increasing legal tangle which caused the State's capital city council to cede its decision-making powers to a council officer at its last meeting of 2011. It is precisely these examples of bureaucratic nightmares which cause a lack of business confidence in Tasmania's planning and development framework. Tasmania is already in an appalling mess and cannot afford any lower confidence levels. In this latest case, an important development application could not be dealt with by the elected body of aldermen because four of its members were advised they likely had a conflict of interest, due to actions which in other States are considered due diligence by elected members. Councillors and aldermen in Tasmania are no less capable than their interstate counterparts in these matters and if our laws are leading to increasingly strict legal interpretations which fetter democracy at this level of governance then its simply time for the Minister to respond with new laws to restore power to the people. The State Liberals will act in and out of Parliament to force this lazy and distracted Government to deal with this matter in 2012. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.276 2011-12-10T00:33:55Z 2012-01-10T00:34:39Z

Infrastructure Minister David O’Byrne must immediately reassure Northern Midlands’ residents that he has a plan for verges on the Midland Highway in the lead-up to the bush fire season....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com Infrastructure Minister David O’Byrne must immediately reassure Northern Midlands’ residents that he has a plan for verges on the Midland Highway in the lead-up to the bush fire season. We know from past fire events that the region is vulnerable to fire activity, with an extensive build-up of flammable growth along the verges. Many residents were traumatized by the Epping Forest fire in recent years, which devastated many kilometres of fencing, pasture and trees. There is no doubt that this was a result of the Government’s failures to adequately manage the verges. The Green-Labor Government has a responsibility to reduce the fire risk on its land, and this is a responsibility it has shirked in the past, with devastating results. I call on the Minister to immediately assure residents that he has a plan to tackle the issue at hand. I will be watching the progress on this issue very closely. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.278 2011-12-08T00:36:10Z 2012-01-10T00:37:08Z

The state’s rail network and its operator Tasrail has run up almost a $1 billion tab in cash spent to date, in forward commitments and in urgent current requests for extra funds...

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com The state’s rail network and its operator Tasrail has run up almost a $1 billion tab in cash spent to date, in forward commitments and in urgent current requests for extra funds With the Chairman of Tasrail describing as “absolutely necessary” the need for another $240 million from the Federal Government to rectify the “highly degraded” state of much of the rail network, it has become clear that it will be many years before Tasrail can be genuinely competitive against the road transport industry in Tasmania. What has been revealed today is that at no point has this government developed a zero-sum alternative case against which to check the viability of the huge amounts of public funds being poured into the rail business. What is worse is that the Minister had no idea that the cash-splash to date (spent, committed and requested) is fast approaching $1 billion. Tasmanians demand a higher level of accountability and business performance from the Green-Labor Government, particularly now that they are seeing real frontline cuts to health, education and police. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.277 2011-12-02T00:34:54Z 2012-01-10T00:35:57Z

Tasmania’s $100 million abalone industry simply cannot afford having its product banned from New South Wales....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com Tasmania’s $100 million abalone industry simply cannot afford having its product banned from New South Wales. It sends a negative signal to the international market and Fisheries Minister Bryan Green must explain exactly what he is doing to make sure the ban is lifted as soon as possible. The abalone industry employs hundreds of people, directly and indirectly, and is a vital industry to regional Tasmania. We’ve already seen Minister Green fail to act on problems in the scallop industry and the crayfish industry, which did serious harm to not only Tasmania’s economy but our reputation abroad. Minister Green needs to take this latest issue seriously and act immediately. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.275 2011-11-23T00:32:21Z 2012-01-10T00:33:33Z

Tasmania was asked to lift its game at a recent Ministerial Council of Attorneys General in relation to a responsible approach to protecting people, in particular children, from dangerous dogs....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com Tasmania was asked to lift its game at a recent Ministerial Council of Attorneys General in relation to a responsible approach to protecting people, in particular children, from dangerous dogs. Yet when asked in parliament if he was prepared to show some accountability and draft new laws relating to killer dogs, like Victoria and Queensland, the Attorney General was non-committal. This Government has a history of going soft on the ownership of dangerous cross breeds of proscribed breeds in spite of there being chilling evidence of vicious attacks. These dogs have been described as sharks on legs and it is not good enough that Tasmania continues to lag behind other states in addressing this important issue of public safety. Mr Wightman’s platitudes in parliament will do little to reduce appalling dog attack statistics in Tasmania. It’s time for action. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.274 2011-11-17T01:30:03Z 2011-11-22T01:30:46Z

Labor and the Greens’ botched handling of the Bridgewater Bridge has again been exposed, this time by a massive blow-out in the costs of a new bridge and timeline for delivering it....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com Labor and the Greens’ botched handling of the Bridgewater Bridge has again been exposed, this time by a massive blow-out in the costs of a new bridge and timeline for delivering it. Embarrassingly, the Minister also revealed that he doesn't expect a new bridge to be built for a least another ten years - despite the fact that the current bridge is clearly past its used-by date. If Labor hadn't cynically diverted the money provided by John Howard for the new bridge in 2005 for pre-election pork-barrelling, we would have a new bridge today. And the fact that the Infrastructure Minister couldn’t even say how the estimated cost of a new bridge has sky-rocketed from $150 million in 2004 to $750 million shows just out of touch this Government is. It beggars belief that the Green-Labor Government expects Infrastructure Australia to take it seriously when it can’t even submit an accurate proposal. This Government has repeatedly shown that it has no idea how to manage infrastructure in Tasmania – and this is just another example. It is time Minister O’Byrne started taking his responsibilities seriously instead of leaving Tasmania to become the laughing stock of the nation. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.273 2011-11-16T01:29:05Z 2011-11-22T01:29:54Z

While we were pleased that the Greens supported our amendments to water down their motion on compulsory voting, it does not change our strong view that local government should not be politicised....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com While we were pleased that the Greens supported our amendments to water down their motion on compulsory voting, it does not change our strong view that local government should not be politicised. The Liberals’ believe Tasmanians are best served by enjoying at least one independent layer of government, free from political party interference. Whenever a political party proposes changes to an electoral system, you need to closely examine their reasons for doing so. The danger of compulsory voting became clear today when Tim Morris let it slip that he supports compulsory voting because forcing young people to vote might mean a greater number of Greens in local government. Far from believing compulsory voting would be more democratic or would promote other high ideals, it seems all the Greens are interested in is more power. We have seen the terrible impact they have had on state and federal politics, the last thing that Tasmanians need is the Greens gaining control of local government. With their party position already declared with endorsed candidates in the recent elections, Labor’s motives are just as transparent as they are ominous. Support for Labor is at rock bottom at a state level and they see compulsory voting in local government as the only way of rebuilding their power base. Compulsory voting would clearly politicise local government and on that basis is something the Liberals do not support. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.272 2011-11-09T01:28:16Z 2011-11-22T01:28:54Z

The Green-Labor experiment is failing, and the unstable Government is now cutting the number of days it has to spend in Parliament in a cynical attempt to avoid scrutiny....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com The Green-Labor experiment is failing, and the unstable Government is now cutting the number of days it has to spend in Parliament in a cynical attempt to avoid scrutiny. Next year there will only be 41 sitting days, the lowest number of sitting days since the dark days of Paul Lennon. This demonstrates more than ever the Green-Labor Government’s complete absence of a vision or plan for Tasmania. It is a directionless Government more worried about keeping themselves in a job than the issues the community cares about, like jobs, the economy, the cost of living and frontline services. Every week the Green-Labor Government is in Parliament is another week that their lack of vision is exposed. It’s hardly surprising then that they have chosen to reduce the number of sitting days to avoid scrutiny. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.271 2011-10-27T00:27:14Z 2011-11-22T01:28:04Z

David O’Byrne’s incompetence could create a boom-bust cycle in civil contracting engineering....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com David O’Byrne’s incompetence could create a boom-bust cycle in civil contracting engineering. Prior to the last election Labor promised a $90 million roads package in this term of Government. Despite the Minister’s excuses nearly two years on and we have seen no machines on roads, just planning on planning. The civil contracting industry has expressed deep concern that as a result, if the Government actually gets any projects to tender, the market will be flooded with a rush of road construction tenders that local contractors will be unable to compete for all at once, thereby driving prices up and/or inviting in mainland contractors. That Mr O’Byrne could get such basic governance matters wrongs shows how out of touch he is with his portfolio and businesses that rely on Government road contracts for their survival. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.270 2011-10-19T00:26:16Z 2011-11-22T01:27:07Z

The Green-Labor Government needs to make sure that if the Inland Fisheries Service has spare money on its hands whether it can be used to fund vital frontline services like health and education, not buying up premium properties in Tasmania....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com The Green-Labor Government needs to make sure that if the Inland Fisheries Service has spare money on its hands whether it can be used to fund vital frontline services like health and education, not buying up premium properties in Tasmania. The Minister for Fisheries, Bryan Green, needs to look into how Inland Fisheries can afford to buy expensive properties, in light of the Government’s budget black hole. Does this mean that fishing licences are over priced? Could the North-West fishing inspector be reinstated? Surely, Inland Fisheries’ sole objective is to make sure our fisheries are secure and sustainable, why does it need to expand into the property market? At a time when the heart is being ripped out of health, education and the police service the Green-Labor Government needs to get its priorities right. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.269 2011-10-02T00:25:22Z 2011-11-22T01:26:05Z

For the Bridgewater Bridge’s $14 million dollar lifting mechanism to fail for the fifth time since February is more evidence of this Green-Labor Government’s total incompetence when it comes to infrastructure....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com For the Bridgewater Bridge’s $14 million dollar lifting mechanism to fail for the fifth time since February is more evidence of this Green-Labor Government’s total incompetence when it comes to infrastructure. Today’s failure shows just what a dud the lifting mechanism is – in fact as big a dud as this Government. And so far there is no indication as to when the problem will be rectified literally leaving boats up the river without a paddle. How much more mismanagement can Tasmanians take? David O’Byrne has previously admitted a long term solution won’t be looked at for another 6 years. Well it is just not good enough. The Minister has spent $14 million on a short term solution for Bridgewater Bridge that isn’t working and he expects everyone to just put up with it. It’s time David O’Byrne started taking his responsibilities seriously instead of avoiding what is becoming a serious problem. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.268 2011-09-25T00:24:11Z 2011-11-22T01:25:15Z

Last week we saw a Government in gridlock with nothing better to do in Parliament than spend hours congratulating itself on developing an Economic Development plan that two cabinet members didn’t even support...

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com Last week we saw a Government in gridlock with nothing better to do in Parliament than spend hours congratulating itself on developing an Economic Development plan that two cabinet members didn’t even support We are only two weeks into the spring session of Parliament and the Government has run out of work already! The is a clear sign that the Green-Labor Government is bogged down with inertia and inaction – just as former Premier David Bartlett promised would happen if he did a deal with the Greens. Labor and the Greens are more worried about themselves than acting to address the issues which are important to the people of Tasmania. Where were the Bills to bring down the cost of living? Where were the Bills to reboot the economy and attract jobs? And where was the legislation to change the criminal code in order to better protect vulnerable children? With no Government business to scrutinize even the Legislative Council packed up and went home at 3pm on Thursday! And with only four pieces of legislation on the table for debate at the moment, Tasmanians rightly want to know what this government actually doing. With nothing else on the table and nothing evidently in the pipeline, the House will run out of work to do, and could potentially shut down. The Green-Labor Government hasn’t lost control of its legislative agenda – it simply doesn’t have one. tag:www.renehiddingmp.com,2011:/media-releases//3.267 2011-09-22T00:23:15Z 2011-11-22T01:23:56Z

The Liberals today questioned why the Green-Labor Government has effectively been paying for two CEO positions at Tasrail for more than 12 months....

Rene www.renehiddingmp.com The Liberals today questioned why the Green-Labor Government has effectively been paying for two CEO positions at Tasrail for more than 12 months. Many Tasmanians would have rightly assumed that with Tasrail’s appointment of a new CEO in May last year, the Chairman’s $160,000 annual salary would have ceased. Yet the dual roles have continued for more than a year months at great expense to the taxpayer. The Liberals again call on the Green-Labor Government to commit to slashing expenditure on unelected boards and committees instead of slashing frontline services and jobs, after it was revealed this week that the Government spends $6 million annually on more than 200 boards. Labor and the Greens can grizzle all they like, but the Liberals will continue to scrutinize all of the 200 boards, panels, committees and advisory groups for their value and cost. In our Alternative Budget, the Liberals committed to reducing spending on such bodies by $2.5 million and direct public funds where they are needed most, into re-booting the economy, creating jobs and protecting frontline services.