Align infrastructure, energy, digital connectivity and land supply with economic priorities

Infrastructure shapes what Tasmania's economy can do, where growth can happen and how quickly opportunities can be realised. From energy and digital connectivity to transport, ports, water and land readiness, the state's infrastructure foundations determine whether private investment, productivity gains and regional opportunity are achievable in practice.

Tasmania has built substantial infrastructure capability through decades of investment. Project Marinus, the Macquarie Point Precinct, the Strategic Infrastructure Framework, and the state's networks of energy, water, transport and digital infrastructure together provide a platform of national significance. Infrastructure Tasmania, TasNetworks, TasWater, TasPorts and Hydro Tasmania bring deep institutional capability to the work ahead.

The next decade will require this platform to do more. Connecting economic priorities and infrastructure decisions more closely will allow the government to sequence investment with greater effect, address gaps that hold back private investment, and make better use of Tasmania's long-term advantages. This means understanding the highest-priority uses of land and the needs of businesses and communities, so that public investment is targeted where it unlocks wider benefit and proponents can meet their own infrastructure requirements efficiently.

Tasmania's energy advantage

Energy is the clearest example of how infrastructure choices shape Tasmania's economic future. Tasmania could become a significant supplier of clean energy, clean fuels and energy-intensive low-emissions products into national and global markets, aligning with growing demand for trusted, decarbonised supply chains.

The government recognises the need to balance the interests of existing Tasmanian industry, the workers and communities who depend on it, the opportunity to attract new energy-intensive investment, as well as Tasmania's role in supporting the national energy transition.

Realising opportunities requires careful planning and sequencing, leveraging the strategic advantages of Tasmania's public energy companies and networks while being agile and responsive to opportunities as they arise. Tasmania can grow its role in the national market while continuing to deliver the reliable, competitively priced supply that local industry and households depend on. These goals can reinforce one another - new interconnection and new large customers can each help bring forward the next wave of renewable generation that benefits users.

Tasmania's strategic energy planning is the principal vehicle for navigating these matters, working alongside this Strategy and Tasmania's broader investment, infrastructure and regional priorities. Consistent with the Strategy’s decision-making principles, major policy and funding decisions should consider impacts on competition and be tested against the public interest. If government requires a government business to provide a non-commercial service, concession or activity at a net cost, this should be clearly identified and supported as a community service obligation. Where government businesses compete with private providers, decisions should also consider competitive neutrality principles.

Digital, transport, water and land foundations

Beyond energy, Tasmania's infrastructure agenda spans the foundations that determine where and how growth happens. Reliable, affordable digital connectivity — particularly outside Tasmania's larger centres — is increasingly a precondition for productivity, business growth and regional participation. Transport and logistics networks shape Tasmania's competitiveness as an exporting island economy. Land and water readiness determine whether industrial, housing and regional development opportunities can be activated when they emerge.

These foundations require coordinated planning, sustained investment from a range of sources, and clear advocacy to the Australian Government where Commonwealth levers are decisive. Infrastructure Tasmania's Strategic Infrastructure Framework will continue to inform ongoing engagement on infrastructure needs and opportunities, and provides the platform for prioritising investment in line with this Strategy.