Hydro, Construction, Engineers Stories
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Brand to fore as Giddings addresses nation
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Tasmania’s rapidly evolving brand was a hero when the
Premier, Lara Giddings, challenged interstate perceptions in an address to the
National Press Club in February. If you would
like to read about the speech titled Tasmania:
Island of Change, please click on the
headline.March, 2013, Issue 136
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Way cleared for Parliament Square
Hobart’s $100 million Parliament Square project jumped its final process hurdle in November, when Parliament’s Upper House voted 10-4 to approve project-specific legislation to end a cycle of appeals. If you would like read about the project and other Sullivans Cove redevelopments, please click on the headline. Read moreDecember, 2012, Issue 134
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Wilkie emerges as a latter-day Harradine
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The wintry weeks of June saw a blossoming of Federal generosity in Tasmania that recalled the halcyon days of that master of Senate politics, Brian Harradine. If you would like to read about Denison independent Andrew Wilkie’s role in Canberra’s latest $380 million splurge, please click on the headline.July, 2012, Issue 129
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Searoad to expand Bass Strait capacity
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Tasmanian transport magnate Chas Kelly is planning to buy two new faster and bigger Bass Strait freighters with potential to ease cargo bottlenecks for local businesses. If you would like to read more, please click on the headline.May, 2012, Issue 127
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Grainger takes helm at TT-Line
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The Chair of the Brand Tasmania Council, Michael Grainger, has been appointed Chairman of the TT-Line, replacing Denis Rogers who has retired after seven years in charge. If you would like to read more, please click on the headline.March, 2012, Issue 125
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China buys into Hydro’s wind business
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Hydro Tasmania has resumed construction of the 168mW Musselroe wind farm in north-east Tasmania and has sold 75 per cent of its Woolnorth wind farm to China-based Guohua Energy Investment. If you would like to read more about the State’s fast-changing renewable energy scene, please click on the headline.February, 2012, Issue 124
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Water to supercharge farmlands
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Work will begin within weeks on two irrigation schemes in Tasmania’s midlands – worth a total of $100 million – that promise to produce rural jobs for generations by transforming grazing land to intensive agriculture. If you would like to read more, please click on the headline.February, 2012, Issue 124
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Hobart rates highly in cities survey
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Hobart’s people feel safer, have lower levels of psychological distress and volunteer more than residents in any other Australian capital city, according to a Federal Government report released in November. If you would like to read more about The State of Australian Cities 2011, please click on the headline.December, 2011, Issue 123
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Ash clouds sever State air links
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Two clouds of volcanic ash from an Andean eruption moved into Tasmanian airspace in June devastating airline schedules. If you would like to read how Chile’s Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano caused hundreds of Australian flights to be cancelled, costing airlines more than $30 million and stranding more than 70,000 passengers, please click on the headline.July, 2011, Issue 118
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Saffire wins global design award
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Saffire at Freycinet has been judged International Hotel of the Year by the global publication World Architecture News. If you would like to read about Tasmania’s emerging tourism icon, please click on the headline.July, 2011, Issue 118
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Budget gap is now $1.5 billion
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Tasmania’s budgetary black hole expanded to more than $1.5 billion with the release in May of the Federal Budget for 2011-12. If you would like to read how Wayne Swan’s fourth Budget impacted on the State, please click on the headline.June, 2011, Issue 117
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Major medical science precinct taking shape
Australia’s most imposing medical science precinct will be created in Hobart when the $90 million second stage of the Menzies Research Institute is completed in December 2012. The futuristic Medical Science 1 building (MS1), which accommodates 92 staff, 365 students and 40 PhD candidates from the Health Science Faculty of the University of Tasmania, as well as 374 staff and students from Menzies will be officially opened in April after a five-year gestation.
please click on the headline. Read moreMarch, 2010, Issue 103
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Port Latta option for $500m silicon plant
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Reports that a silicon smelter could be built at the Port Latta Major Industry Zone took on some substance in early October when shares in a junior miner with substantial Tasmanian silica leases soared more than 220 per cent in a single trading day. If you would like to read about the $500 million polysilicon wafer project, please click on the headline.November, 2009, Issue 100
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Go-ahead for $150m gas project
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Gas business BOC will begin work this month on a $150 million liquid natural gas (LNG) plant at Westbury that will have capacity to replace 70,000 litres of diesel a day and power most of the State’s trucks. If you would like to read about an important looming change in the State’s transport infrastructure, please click on the headline.August, 2009, Issue 97
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State to resume running railways
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The Tasmanian Government will resume ownership of the State’s troubled rail freight system on 30 November. If you would like to read about the deal that ended the State’s freight transport deadlock, please click on the headline.July, 2009, Issue 96
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Tasmania lauded as economic bolt-hole
“If you want to hide from the global financial crisis, you could do far worse than going to Tasmania,” according to the latest Access Economics Business Outlook. If you would like to read more on Tasmania’s course through the economic storm, please click on the headline.
Read moreJune, 2009, Issue 95
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$100m to stimulate business
The Tasmanian Government launched a $100 million scheme in October to provide loans to small and medium-sized businesses to support the local economy amid global financial uncertainty. If you would like to read the details of this State-level response, please click on the headline.
Read moreNovember, 2008, Issue 88
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Aird takes on development
The Treasurer, Michael Aird, assumed responsibility for the Economic Development portfolio in a Cabinet reshuffle announced on 16 September. If you would like to read the details of the changes, please click on the headline.
Read moreOctober, 2008, Issue 87
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Bartlett changes the settings
Tasmania can’t afford to sit back and relax after a decade of excellent growth, but must forge a new economic direction in which an improved education system will be a crucial element, according to the Premier, David Bartlett. If you would like to read more about Mr Bartlett’s keynote speech to the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, please click on the headline.
Read moreSeptember, 2008, Issue 86
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Cambridge is taking off
A strip of second-class grazing land at Cambridge - forlorn and under-utilised for more than 30 years - is suddenly a hub of 21st century development and a manifestation of the State’s economic revival. If you would like to read more about the reinvention of Cambridge, please click on the headline.
Read moreApril, 2008, Issue 81
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State revenue surges
The Tasmanian Government is now positioned to fund construction of a new Royal Hobart Hospital, as well as a range of other initiatives, without resorting to politically difficult methods of financing, according to noted economic commentator Saul Easlake. If you would like to read more on the State’s sharply improved financial position, please click on the headline.
Read moreMarch, 2008, Issue 80
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Airport sale nets $300m.
The Tasmanian Government has sold Hobart International Airport for $350.5 million, to a consortium consisting of Macquarie Capital Group Ltd, Macquarie Global Infrastructure Fund III and Tasmania’s Retirement Benefits Fund. The sale, which returned $300 million to the Government, heads this month’s News-in-Brief; followed by international awards for three tourism operations; four recruits to the Sporting Hall of Fame and an expansion in the solar-energy sector. If you would like to read these stories and lots more, please click on the headline.
Read moreFebruary, 2008, Issue 79
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Go-ahead for Menzies 'morph'
The Menzies Research Institute took a big step in July towards its planned transformation into a premier international health and medical research facility when the Hobart City Council approved plans for its futuristic new headquarters. If you would like to read more, please click on the headline.
Read moreAugust, 2007, Issue 74
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Lots hanging on railyard study
Tasmania’s health system; Hobart’s port operations; the redevelopment of historic Sullivan’s Cove; southern Tasmania’s freight infrastructure; and a number of political careers are all entangled in a 12-month feasibility study launched in May to consider the suitability of Hobart’s railyards as a site for a new $800 million Royal Hobart Hospital. If you would like to read more, please click on the headline.
Read moreJune, 2007, Issue 72
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‘Pete’s Treat’ pleases uni
A Federal election-year Budget labelled Pete’s Treat by headline writers was welcomed by the University of Tasmania, but received a less enthusiastic review from the State Government. Tax cuts for people in lower income brackets and handouts to families highlighted the package unwrapped by Treasurer, Peter Costello, on 8 May. According to the Liberal Party, Tasmanians will have $780 million more to spend over the next four years as a result of the Budget, but there were only a handful of Tasmania-specific measures.
For further items in this month’s newsletter, please click on the headline
Read moreJune, 2007, Issue 72
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New life for Tarraleah
The 1930s hydro village of Tarraleah has been re-opened as Tasmania’s latest tourism asset. If you would like to read more, please click on the headline.
Read moreMarch, 2007, Issue 69
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Compromise at Cockle Creek
The Tasmanian Government has signed two agreements with Melbourne-based Stage Designs in a bid to ensure a proposed ecotourism development at Cockle Creek, in the State’s south-east, will “acknowledge, protect and maintain the area’s historic heritage.” For the full story, please click on the headline.
Read moreFebruary, 2007, Issue 68
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Visions for our waterfront
A Tasmanian architectural team has shared top prize in the Hobart Waterfront International Design Competition which attracted 280 entries from 51 countries. The Tasmanians share the $150,000 top prize with entries from Sydney and Denmark. If you would like to read more please click on the headline.
Read moreFebruary, 2007, Issue 68
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Big thinking on hospital
The Government has swallowed some bitter fiscal medicine and committed to completely rebuild the troubled Royal Hobart Hospital on a new site at a location to be determined. The project will be the most significant public sector infrastructure upgrade in decades. It is expected to take up to nine years to complete and cost estimates range up to $700 million.
Read moreNovember, 2006, Issue 66
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Rail solution still down the track
The State Government and rail operator Pacific National signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 15 August progressing – but not concluding – negotiations that have now dragged on for 10 months. Federal-State point-scoring is complicating the issue . For an update on the rail situation, please click on the headline.
Read moreSeptember, 2006, Issue 64
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Railway emerges from uncertainty
Tasmania's transport infrastructure emerged from crisis in May when rail operator Pacific National signed off on a $118 million rescue package first put forward by the State and Commonwealth governments in November 2005. For the full story, please click on the headline. Read more
June, 2006, Issue 61
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Sabina looming as major investor
Queensland’s Sabina Corporation is looming as a major investor in Tasmania’s tourism and residential infrastructure with projects totalling over $120 million flagged in the Press. For details of Sabina’s planning, please click on the headline. Read more
May, 2006, Issue 60
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Classy units for Port Arthur
Ubiquitous Tasmanian tourism player, Federal Hotels and Resorts, has unveiled plans for a $30 million luxury accommodation project that will complement in impressive detail nearby heritage buildings at the Port Arthur Historic Site. For the full story, please click on the headline. Read more
March, 2006, Issue 58
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Retail centre offers 1,000 jobs
A proposal for a $ 100 million retail centre at Hobart Airport, plans for biotechnology expansion, awards for innovative cheese-maker Ashgrove, further good news on population, export success for a local shipbuilder and a new shopping complex at St Helens are the topics in this month’s update-in-brief. To read the items, click on the headline. Read more
December, 2005, Issue 55
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Tasmanian toilet helps twice-struck Banda Aceh region
Forty enviro-friendly toilets have been shipped to Banda Aceh and installed at a temporary camp Read more
March, 2005, Issue 46
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Terratec Tunnels Into European Market
Leading international producer of tunnelling and drilling machines, Read more
December, 2001, Issue 15
