The Hodgman Liberal Government is committed to excellence in education and a vital part of our plan is investing in contemporary learning environments.
It’s a critical component of our plan to grow the economy, create jobs, invest in essential services and protect the Tasmanian way of life, which is why we’re investing a record $7.1 billion in education.
This includes $184 million across the forward estimates in capital works which includes new schools, school upgrades, new Child and Family Learning Centres and school farm redevelopments.
And today I congratulate Fairbrother Construction for winning the $10 million tender to complete this major redevelopment to Riverside High School.
It will deliver a state of the art learning environment for the 750 students at the school. There’ll be a new administration space, new classrooms for Grade 7 and 8’s, infrastructure for central student services such as IT and first aid while a new art area has already been completed.
The $12.95 million dollar project includes improvements to traffic flow which will see reconfigured parking, a new bus turning circle and bus shelters.
Fairbrother is a great Tasmanian business and just one to benefit from our buy local policy which aims to get more Tasmanian businesses winning Government contracts, which is great for jobs and the economy.
This Government set a target for 90 per cent of all Government contracts to be awarded to Tasmanian-based businesses by 2022 and we are well and truly on track to deliver this, with the latest figures showing Tasmanian businesses secured 90 per cent of the total value of open procurements contracts in the third quarter of 2018-19, this delivers $95 million towards local businesses.
Moody’s Investor Service Credit Opinion of Tasmanian State Government finances also shows that despite softer economic conditions throughout the nation, the Tasmanian economy is resilient and diverse and continues to perform above its long term trend, with the strengthening local economy creating jobs.
This is why we are able to remain focused on building Tasmania’s education future by ensuring schools, staff, students and the community are supported with high-quality learning facilities, while driving economic growth and creating jobs from planning to construction.