Tasmania State Budget Summary
Tasmania’s Treasurer, Michael Ferguson, delivered the 2024-2025 State Budget last week, with a strong infrastructure focus. Titled “Delivering the 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future”, the budget includes a hefty $5.1 billion infrastructure investment, topping the previous budget's commitment by $800 million. This includes funding for roads and bridge projects, recreation and culture facilities, education facilities, health projects, housing, and justice/police/emergency projects.
With such a significant infrastructure spend comes new opportunities for built environment specialists. We have happily trawled through the budget documents with a built environment lens and compiled a comprehensive summary of relevant budget investments below. We hope these insights prove valuable in informing your business development strategy for the coming year.
Health
Hospitals and health represents the second largest infrastructure spend within the budget, encompassing a total of $649.6 million which equates to approximately 16.8% of the total infrastructure investment. Focusing on improving the healthcare system across the state, the health spend includes enhanced mental health facilities, a number of new and existing projects at Tasmania’s major hospitals, new ambulance stations and a range of other key investments as outlined below:
$104.6 million towards a new Mental Health Centre, as part of the transformation of St John’s Park in Newtown into a new Health and Wellbeing Precinct. This investment will enable the development of 15 adult mental health beds, a 12-bed Child and Adolescent Mental Health Inpatient Unit and Day Facility and a new 40-bed Older Persons Mental Health Facility
$100+ million of funding for the redevelopment of the Royal Hobart Hospital, including $88 million in additional funding for the Emergency Department, $4 million for a new Mother Baby Unit, and $8.415 million for the expanded stage 2 redevelopment
$52.5 million investment in the continued redevelopment of North West Regional Hospital to support the delivery of the first stage of the North West Hospitals Master Plan. This will include a new purpose-built Medical Inpatient building and Mental Health Precinct, plus improvements to the Emergency Department entry and ambulance drop off zone, upgrades to the main hospital entry, and construction of a new transit lounge for visitors and patients
$53.5 million investment in projects at Launceston General Hospital, including a significant expansion to the Emergency Department ($39.5 million) and the Stage 2 Redevelopment project which includes a Mental Health Precinct and Multi Storey Car Park ($14 million)
$35 million for the Launceston Health Hub Joint Venture
$28.9 million continued investment in the Kingston health Centre Stage 2
$20 million investment in the development of new ambulance stations at Snug, Legana, Cygnet and King Island
$17 million for the continued expansion of the Mersey Community Hospital to include a new sub-acute building
$10 million towards Stage 1 of a new Cancer Wellness Centre
$7.6 million investment in the Devonport Mental Health Hub.
Transport and Infrastructure
Roads and Bridges account for the largest infrastructure spend category within the 2024-25 Tasmania State budget, with the $1.9 billion investment equating to over 50% of the total infrastructure commitment. Much of this investment is dedicated to continued investment in existing major projects, as outlined below:
$190 million for the completion of the Bridgewater Bridge
$116.8 million ongoing investment in Infrastructure Maintenance
$31.7 million for new park and ride facilities, including the Northern Park and Ride
$29.6 million for the completion of the Midland Highway Action Plan;
$24.6 million for the transformation of the Tasman Highway between Hobart and Sorell
$21.7 million for the Bass Highway Corridor, including between Launceston and Marrawah, the East and West Tamar Highways and the Tasman Highway
$12 million for the Launceston Urban Transit Centre
The budget also includes a $20 million investment in developing new ferry terminals in Lindisfarne, Wilkinsons Point, and Sandy Bay and encompasses $42.2 million in equity contributions to Hydro Tasmania to redevelop the Tarraleah Power Station. Further equity contributions of $178 million from the State and Australian Governments to TasRail will support the following key projects:
Tranche 4 of the Tasmanian Freight Rail Revitalisation Program ($98.4 million)
Reconnection of the Bell Bay rail line to the Port of Bell Bay ($30 million)
Burnie Shiploader project ($18 million)
New minerals hub on the Melba rail line ($18 million)
Housing
With the government’s continued commitment to its target of achieving 10,000 more social and affordable homes by 2032, the budget includes a $35 million investment over 2 years in the “Homes Faster! Partnership Incentive Fund”. This fund will support local government in building a range of agreed housing options in regional areas to house key workers through the KeyHomes program and will simultaneously support builders and developers in achieving large residential apartment developments by guaranteeing Homes Tasmania’s purchase of 10% of units off the plan as affordable rental accommodation. Complimentary to this, the budget includes an increased Residential Land Rebate Scheme that encourages land developers to bring forward more affordable residential land lots by offering rebates of up to $15,000 per lot, plus a new Medium-High Density Development Grant that incentivises these types of developments with grants of up to $10,000 per unit available to developers.
Further housing spending includes a $20 million additional investment over the next four years in maintaining existing social housing, plus a $9.1 million commitment to upgrading teacher housing in rural and remote communities
Education
A key feature of the Government’s education spend in this year’s budget is a $178+ million investment to kick off the School Building Blitz program, providing important upgrades to the following 15 schools:
Burnie Primary School ($14 million)
Campbell Town District High School ($7.9 million)
Clarence High School ($29 million)
Deloraine High School ($6.5 million)
Dodges Ferry Primary School ($25 million)
East Derwent Primary School ($12 million)
Havenview Primary School ($11.6 million)
Lindisfarne North Primary School ($8.1 million)
Mowbray Heights Primary School ($7.1 million
Port Dalrymple School ($9.7 million)
Princes Street Primary School ($8.3 million)
Ringarooma Primary School ($3.6 million)
Risdon Vale Primary School ($6.0 million)
Rosetta Primary School ($14.2 million)
South George Town Primary School ($15.1 million)
While this investment is not a surprise, as it was one of the Government’s election promises, it features a strong diversity of project scales and locations, providing welcome opportunities for built environment practices across the state with varied capacities and experience.
In addition, the budget provides key investment in new facilities, including $40 million of additional funding for the North West Support School, which will enable the delivery of a brand new purpose-built campus in Devonport, together with major upgrades to the Burnie Campus. The budget also includes an investment of $32 million to build four new supersized Child and Family Learning Centres, $8 million for Out of School Hours Care Capital Upgrades, $7.6 million for Playground and Sports Courts Upgrades, and $16 million of additional funding to support school maintenance and improvement across the state.
Vocational learning is also supported in the budget, with a $30 million investment in a new VET Facilities Fund to deliver new and upgraded, fit-for-purpose facilities and industry-standard equipment at Colleges, Secondary Schools, and Trade Training Centres.
Justice and Emergency
The budget includes key investments in justice infrastructure, including a continued investment of $49.7 million in Youth Justice Facilities and $78.4 million in the Burnie Court Complex project, as well as $38 million for a new 52-bed Maximum Security Offender Accommodation Unit at Risdon Prison and a $15.9 million investment in the Risdon Prison Construction Program to deliver improvements at the Ron Barwick Minimum Security Prison with a focus on accommodation more intervention and rehabilitation programs.
An investment of $27 million has also been committed to the development of three new Emergency Services Hubs at Kingston ($15 million), Wynyard ($10 million) and Roseberry ($2 million).
Sport & Recreation
Considering direct investments and equity funding commitments, the 2024-25 Tasmanian Budget strongly supports the sport and recreation sector, with some exciting projects achieving funding. Key investments include:
$70 million for the Tasmanian AFL High Performance Centre
$22.5 million for the Sporting Legacy Precinct at Devonport Oval
$21.5 million for the proposed upgrade to the Elphin Sports Centre
$24.5 million for the Dial Regional Sports Complex
$32 million for the Northern Suburbs Community Recreation Hub project
$16 million for the redevelopment of the multipurpose Silverdome venue in Launceston
The budget also includes equity funding of $610 million for the delivery of the Macquarie Point Urban Renewal project and stadium (supported by State, Australian Government and AFL contributions), $134 million to Stadiums Tasmania (including a $130 million contribution for the redevelopment of UTAS Stadium in Launceston), and $9.5 million for Tasracing Pty Ltd for racing infrastructure in the North West and North of the State, and specifically for the Burnie, Spreyton and Carrick Racecourses.
Sources: 2024-25 Tasmanian Budget Overview Booklet, Parliament of Tasmania Budget Paper No 1, Pulse Tasmania Article “At a glance: The key numbers from Tasmania’s 2024/25 state budget”, ABC News Article “Tasmania's debt, efficiency dividends addressed as treasurer hands down budget”