New prison plan drags on
Sharon Webb
THE STATE Government appears to be keeping its plan for a new prison ticking over in 2021 but it’s not yet a major priority.
Premier Peter Gutwein did not list the prison in his January announcement of government priorities for the year, mentioning only the Covid-19 vaccination rollout, a land tax review, the commission of enquiry into sexual abuse and a new government information portal.
He also mentioned the more populist issues of the inclusion of a Tasmanian NBL team and the continued push for a Tasmania based AFL team.
The project’s absence makes the State Government’s claim that the prison is a ‘shovel ready’ infrastructure plan to help Tasmania’s economic recovery from COVID-19 questionable.
Questioned on the omission, Mr Gutwein reiterated the Government’s $111 million commitment to complete stage one of the $270 million prison project.
He said, ‘This vital project will support more than 1,000 jobs and deliver an economic boost of $500 million to the region.’
Later a government media office spokesman fudged the issue by saying the project ‘remains a very important priority project for the government’ and ‘it was not possible for the premier to mention every priority of government at this time.’
But the spokesperson for WRAP, Linda Poulton said the 2020/2021 State budget indicated that a relatively small portion of the prison’s funding allocation will be spent in the 2020–21 and 2021–22 financial years.
‘The first really significant spend, $32.6m, won’t occur until mid 2022’, she said.
‘The Justice Department previously indicated that construction works for Stage 1 of the prison will begin next year.
‘This is obviously preposterous given that they are already lagging months behind and their application will need to go through a lengthy planning process.’
The prison project’s lag has not been helped by the Justice Dept’s change of environmental consultant for the Brushy Creek Reserve location in December last year.
The original consultant, Mark Wapstra of EcoTas, said he was no longer engaged by the Justice Dept because ‘we haven’t been able to come to mutually agreeable contract terms’.
The Justice Department has now engaged North Barker Ecosystems Services, a company engaged by WRAP to provide the group with environmental advice.
North Barker denies they ever agreed to work for WRAP but an email from employee Grant Daniels on December 22 indicated otherwise, saying, ‘Unfortunately we are no longer in a position to consider offering our services to your group on this project.’
