Michelle O'Byrne and Leigh Rodman at The Rodman Group

Video Rod Thompson

Transcript

00:00 So what we know is that we have a government that is adamant that there are no problems

00:07 with energy supply, no problem with businesses being able to access opportunities to grow.

00:12 And yet time after time we're meeting with businesses who are saying, "Look, I'm ready

00:15 to develop, I'm ready to expand, I'm ready to employ more people, but I can't get the

00:19 TAS Network's issues resolved in time for us to do this work."

00:24 So we're here today talking to Lee about his business, which already employs 66 people,

00:28 that has opportunities around the state, that has since 2021 been trying to resolve an expansion

00:35 of their business out at a site that is designed for new businesses out at Western Junction,

00:41 but can't get the work done by TAS Networks.

00:44 It's increasing costs, it's costing jobs, it's costing opportunities, and is an absolute

00:50 limiter on growth for Tasmanian businesses.

00:52 I think what it's saying is that the government have got their head in the sand about the

00:57 ability to assist businesses to grow.

01:00 Accessing energy, accessing energy infrastructure is a massive blocker to building businesses

01:04 in Tasmania, and the government's got to start addressing that.

01:08 This site could create, this new site at Western Junction has the opportunity for a number

01:12 of businesses to create more jobs, to create more value to our economy, and people are

01:17 limited by a government failing to invest in an area that they know they can fix.

01:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]