Ep. 41 - Tom Balcombe, The Hon. Jeremy Rockliff

Premier Rockliff on Tasmania's New Era of Opportunity Well, welcome to another Between the Lines podcast. I'm Tom Balcom. I work for Ray White Commercial Tasmania. Little bit of a switch up in the hosts this week. Our Vanessa Rader, Head of Research is actually in Las Vegas speaking at a conference. So we wish her all the best. I do have our CEO of Ray White Commercial, James Lineker here, and we do have a very special guest, the Honourable Jeremy Rockliffe, MP, Premier of Tasmania. We're very, very appreciative of your time here today. We know you've literally just slipped out of Parliament, so thank you very much for being here and we're looking forward to unpacking everything Tassie today. Speaker 2 Thanks very much, Tom, and welcome to Tassie James. Speaker 3 Thank you very much. Speaker 2 You've all back to Tassie. Yeah, as I understand, which is fantastic. Great to be here and very enthusiastic to be able to talking all things Tassie. Speaker 3 Yeah, I, I suppose at Ray White Commercial and, and thank you again for coming along. We've, we've made a really deliberate investment into the state because we think it's got such a, a sort of great story to tell. I suppose, I guess you know, you've obviously you're the, the, the state's greatest salesperson and, and I suppose, you know, we looked at it and thought, you know, not not just in the long term, but in the, in the medium to long term, you know, industry infrastructure investment in small business, that it's a great story to tell. I suppose you know what, what, what do you give us a give us a brief sort of like thing about what makes you so excited about the state at the moment? Speaker 2 I'm really excited. I think we're entering a new era of opportunity in Tasmania. We've made some very key decisions in recent times that have signalled to the marketplace that we're absolutely and utterly open for business and really willing to fight hard for that as well. And of course, the number one, you know, discussion in town has been the stadium over the course of the last few years. But when it comes to many areas of investment in infrastructure, now in this case entertainment infrastructure if you like, but also key huge investments when it comes to not only building renewable energy capacity, but already adding significant value to what is existing. 100% renewable energy here in Tasmania and so open for business. Low taxing state key infrastructure investments and tourism industry that is booming. Speaker 1 Yeah, excellent. I think we'll we'll touch on a few of those things, which is great. You touched on small business there. I think you've always mentioned that, you know, small business is the engine room of the state and I think, you know, being a fifth generation farmer yourself, Premier, you know, what is it about I suppose or how is the government ensuring that Tasmania remains the most probusiness state in Australia? Speaker 2 I mentioned one time with low taxes and firstly it's acknowledging the importance of small business in Tasmania. We like all business in Tasmania, but we can't undervalue the fact that we've got 42,000 small businesses in Tasmania making up 97% of business in Tasmania, employing a huge majority of the people in Tasmania. And so they are the backbone as we've said many, many times. And so when it comes to small business in Tasmania, trying to ensure that it is easy to do business, easiest to do business in Tasmania, We're low taxing, which we're proud of. We have got a very strong cutting red tape agenda across a range of areas, particularly when it comes to housing and development and small business start UPS, for example. And also we're mindful of the fact that we need to reach in and support small business with enabling infrastructure. I see my role, I see the Tasmanian Government's role to get those settings right. That's probably why we've got surveys consistently across the nation that says business confidence is consistently around the highest in the nation. That's great. We're very proud of that because we're a population of 575,000 people, which grown significantly over the last 10 years and we've increased the size of our economy by some 24%. It's now over $40 billion. And so I think 10 years ago when we started in government was around 28 billion. And so that means we've set the structures in place and the policy settings in place that is conducive to investing in Tasmania and attracting innovative people to come to Tasmania as well. Because as we discover, particularly through the pandemic times, you can operate a very successful business from elsewhere if you like. And so we've got great in examples of innovative businesses that have established themselves here and selling their products to the world. Speaker 3 I guess on that, you know, it, it, you know, 28 to 42, you know, it's a, it's AI suppose a match maturation, I suppose of as a state. It's sort of, you know, no longer just a lifestyle destination. It's a, it's an economic hub now for Australia. And as you say, there is so many, I suppose innovative but also kind of niche industries that are that are doing so well. What do you sort of see as the biggest economic driver in Tasmania for the next sort of five to 10 years? Boosting Tasmania's Economy Through Visitor & Farm Spend Very good question and I'll talk. Enabling infrastructure again. Look, our visitor economy is one of those areas. Our visitor economy is now 3 1/2 a billion dollars in terms of the visitor spend. That's grown a couple of billion since the pandemic. And that's significant because we've got numbers coming into Tasmania that around those 2019 levels, but they're spending more higher yield quality experiences. You've all heard of three capes. We're doing another iconic walk in the West Coast. And our natural environment is a good selling point, there's no doubt about that. But it is more than just that. We've clearly demonstrated that we can be open for business, but also if you go really to the grassroots of it all, and you know, I am a farmer by trade and we would have invested upwards of $2 billion in distributing fresh water around this state. So our farmers have the opportunity to diversify their products and grow more food. And while other states have, you know, argued in many respects and not got water development up, we have, we've got irrigation schemes that have been invested in by federal state governments and farmers themselves, which have enabled that diversification. And we can now irrigate to grow red meat in terms of beef, of course, and lamb, but also diversified our range of crops and opportunities as well. Our viticulture injury industry is booming. The investment we're getting from around Australia coming to Tasmania because they can see that we're going to be a great place to invest in terms of the climate change is huge. That's been set up because of the access to fresh water of course. But also back to the visitor economy. We've got the experiences, the amount of investment we've got in golf courses as well as extraordinary. Many minutes away from the Hobart International Airport, and I'll come to that in a moment, is the new 7 Mile Beach golf course. Matty Goggin set up of course that builds on the innovators in northeast Tasmania with Barnburgle Lost Farm, King Island in my neck of the woods as well. And so all these experiences. Greg Norman was down here just a few weeks ago looking at opportunity when it comes to development, golf course and associated developments as well. So it's not just Australian investors that are keen to come here, it is international investors as well, which is fantastic. Speaker 1 Yeah. You've sort of touched on both ends of the state there and the golf courses. And you know, it sounds like there's a lot happening in terms of, you know, tourism infrastructure that's occurring throughout the whole state to basically, you know, ideally get our visitors to stay longer and spend more. Is there any sort of, you know, one big infrastructure project that the government sort of really focusing on or supporting at the moment? Streamlining Development for Tasmania's Future Homes Well, if you look at our two new ships, and there's been some challenges along the way, but very worth that challenge when you look at the 2 brand new ships and the associated infrastructure, there's a 1 1/2 billion dollar investment right there that increases our freight capacity and our passenger capacity by 40%. And so that will bring more people to Tasmania. And they are magnificent ships. I've been on one of them. They'll be in service in October this year. And that's one example where we've set Tasmania up for the future in terms of visitation, but also looking at Hobart International Airport, direct routes from Southeast Asia, whether that be Hong Kong or Singapore, straight into Hobart. It will also be fantastic not only for a visitor economy and high yield tourists, but also exporting quality produce as well. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, excellent. I think switching now on to probably more of the property planning and development aspect, one of the biggest hurdles in sort of the planning process. You've mentioned red tape previously. I know the Government's, you know, there was an interim planning scheme. We've now transitioned onto the Tasmanian planning scheme, which has been great and we're starting to have that sort of centralised function. What specific steps has the Government, I suppose, taken in the last 12 months to sort of streamline that development pipeline and make, I suppose, take the uncertainty out of the planning process? Speaker 2 Well, some of those planning reforms are coming to fruition now, which is very good and it's taken some time, but it's been worth the wait. But we also must continue again with new solutions to get homes built faster. We've got a clear objective of 10,000 homes by 2032. We've got increase area when it comes to our urban sprawl, Urban Development. We've got Defence land opportunity right on our doorstep here in Hobart, Dousing Point, owned by the Federal Government, Defence, we've been very proactive and working with the Federal government. So there is a land opportunity in a beautiful location not far from Hobart, CBD, waterfront views for a lot of that and ripe for development. So it's seizing on those opportunities, but it's also navigating our way through politics of local council and local government. That's where development assessment panels come in. We can take the politics out of local government planning approvals, which is a streamline in itself in terms of time and money, which is and time is money when it comes to these matters as well, of course, but also basic, you know, I would say common sense stuff like getting rid of frivolous third party appeals. Now, if you're directly affected next door by a development, you have the right to appeal. But if you're, you know, living in Sydney, not connected with the development at all and you happen to be a member of a, you know, anti group and deciding to, you know, appeal A sensible development for the sake of it and then for the sake of no progress, then that is just rubbish. And we understand direct, of course, right next door, but not that there's frivolous appeals. They've got to stop, they've got to end and we've got to get on by things. How the Stadium Signals Tasmania is Open for Business I couldn't agree more. I suppose like that attitude and, and that I suppose, you know, direction that you, you're obviously taking with, with the way that we look at how this state is going to get developed. I mean, do you think that that should I suppose ring true for developers that are looking at coming down to Tasmania and, and, and helping with that housing pipeline? Speaker 2 Well, I do and I just note reading the Australian Financial Review and where RWC have got advertisements there where it's about development opportunities and utilising some of the asset creators if you like, and that enabling infrastructure. The stadium's a good signal and why we're so passionate about the stadium was that we would needed to send a very clear signal to the marketplace, Tasmania, Interstate, internationally, that we were open for business. That's why we went to hard yards. It wasn't just about setting up our own Tassie Devils AFL team, as important as that is and how fantastic that's already been, but it's also about saying we can match it with every other state and do it better in terms of turning industrial wastelands into huge economic opportunities and drivers for growth. So that is a very clear signal from our government in terms of wanting to go the hard yards to get things done. And I'm so passionate about this subject, James, I've actually forgotten the original question just. Speaker 3 Just, I mean, exactly that, you know, developers looking at the state, you're obviously you've taken it seriously. The stadium you touched on, you know, you know, you look at I'm from Sydney, you look at Homebush, it's look, it's great, but it's a bit of a white elephant because it's not next to the city. You, you were very passionate about having the stadium right. Speaker 2 There, it had to be right there, James. And you know, I've seen examples around the country. I go to the Aussie Open. I'm lucky enough to go there every single year with my wife right there at Rod Lover Arena. Great entertainment. The tennis is one thing, but it's all the associated entertainment as well. You finish the day, you walk over the bridges and the crossings and all the things that have been established straight into the CBD. You spend more day there. And you know, just so happens that the stadium will be, you know, 8 to 10 minutes walk from Salamanca, which everyone knows, 8 to 10 minutes walk from the CBD of Hobart. And that's why you've got to, you know, create that economy. And you know that I called hustle and bustle then, you know, enthusiasm, of course, as well. And cricket under a roof, Doesn't matter how much the rains, the balls will still be bowled. And entertainment concerts the same. Plus, of course, I fell on other things. So that'll be absolutely tremendous. Speaker 1 I suppose while we're on the the topic of the stadium, I know recently you've just brought out your sort of whole of precinct plan for Mac Point. Developing the Precinct and Powering Tasmania's Future Can you give us an update on on sort of where that's sitting and and how can our private market get involved in such a generational project? Speaker 2 Well, it is a whole Macquarie Point precinct and the focus has just been on the stadium itself, Tom, which has been controversial but worth the fighters we've just been talking about. And we now have a whole Urban Development plan which the enabling infrastructure is there, but there will be housing built in the area, hotels, hospitality venues as well. And that whole Macquarie Point precinct will come alive now in the process. At the moment we're about to award a tender to the first part of the excavations for the stadium design and construct will take another, you know, 9 to 12 months or sooner hopefully in terms of awarding that contract to build. But once that gets started, there are commercial opportunities around the stadium that will be run by the Macquarie Point Development Corporation, which will unlock those opportunities and those parcels of land for people to invest, hotel, whatever it might, retail, retail, all those types of exciting opportunities. Tom. Speaker 1 Yeah, excellent. The industrial property sector is is booming globally and it's definitely had a bit of an uptick off the back of COVID. We're starting to see some pretty significant, I suppose, capital spent in that space from data centres. There's firmness up the north of the state that are spending, you know, billions of dollars, which is fantastic, I suppose. How's the government just ensuring that the grid infrastructure is up to date and I suppose being able to capitalise on such, you know, high spend but high technology investment? Speaker 2 Well, data centres and AI factories is they're now termed in many respects and for Firmus to look at investing a 2 billion billion dollar investment in Northern Tasmania is quite extraordinary and all through renewable energy investment. And so I mentioned our 100% renewables, our objectives for 200% renewables by 2040. So people in other states will think about the, you know, discussion I can call about what form of energy is best. In Tasmania. We've been very lucky that we've been able to build off our hydro industrialisation for the last century. We want to turbo boost that massively by building Mariners Link, which will unlock opportunity for more renewables to be invested in Tasmania, wind predominantly, but also ensure that we have not only energy capacity to attract more business and keep business here, but also at the right price as well. It just so happens that there's another advantage to that and that is that every product you make in Tasmania that requires energy, There's the other marketing brand input that you know all the energy going into creating a product, a crop. Your viticulture might be an incat vessel, James, whatever it might be is through renewable energy and that's significant when you are exporting to the globe as we are and diversifying our exports as well. And so that's another advantage that we've got. That is a huge investment. Marinus, not only does IT support that investment in wind and solar in Tasmania, more of it, but also supports our bottom line as well. You know the tune of half a billion dollars every single year bottom line for Tasmania. Now when budgets are you know under pressure across the nation and you can add a another half a billion dollars to the Tasmanian budget and bottom line if you like. That is significant and allows us then to make sure we're ready to invest in other enabling infrastructure should that be and come along. Nurturing World-Class Businesses and Retaining Talent You touched on on, I suppose the world class operators that we have here in Cat you touched on. Leading from the front, you know, 1010 plus boats that they've got on order. How important are those I suppose, industry leading technology businesses to to the Tasmanian economic story? Speaker 2 Well, it symbolises what we can do now obviously I've just spoken about the renewable energy input into that, but in Cat's been around for some time. I've been on turned the key to the first electric catamaran, whatever I think of this nature longest and the orders are looking fantastic up towards, you know, a billion dollars plus probably. And there's more opportunity if you want to come down to Tasmania and bring your family, you know, learn a skill, in this case a variety of skills when it comes to building, you know, these aluminium in cat vessels, there's a workforce shortage in building them. So there's opportunity there of a job which is fantastic. That is just one example of a company that's continued to lead, continues to align itself with the Tasmanian brand. Even our maritime and defence industries more broadly, we've grown our defence industry in Tasmania, would you believe, from $100 million to $600 million in around 7 or 8 years. Because we've had the right people in place to attract investment and we've got really innovative people that we're shining a light on to attract further investment and further innovation. You know, partnerships with Hanwa Defence and Elfingstons in the Northwest coast, hundreds of millions of dollars of defence contracts simply because we've got very clever people in this state. Speaker 1 Yeah, and I think, you know, there's probably been brain drain in the past whereby we've got young talent leaving the state and then we're starting to see them stay or all come back. And you know, I'll put my hand up. That was me back in the day spending a few years in Melbourne. How is your government, I suppose, partnering with the private enterprise to try and keep our best minds here in the state? Speaker 2 Well, there's a number of examples of that, but when it comes to the opportunities that young people and the, I guess the, the feeling that young people have, they now feel as though this is a place that they can actually stay here and create a very good career here and raise a family here, which is fantastic. I think it's good if young people decide to look and explore the world or another state or whatever it might be to, to learn and also bring back ideas which you can actually develop in Tasmania, be innovative in Tasmania and you know, live here, love it here, raise a family here and invest here, which is fantastic. So those key public private partnerships, potentially the investments around the stadium could be one of those with enabling infrastructure of government as an example, they are key to unlocking more opportunity for like and leverage the private, private sector in supporting the growth of Tasmania. Speaker 1 Yeah. And I think we can probably echo that a little bit. You know, James is sitting here as CEO of Ray White Commercial. He'd represent quite a a large amount of, you know, private and and institutional capital through his network. And, you know, it'll be great to see how the private sector can, can better partner with, you know, the government to achieve, you know, mutual goals in that space. I suppose in closing, Premier, you know, for any business owner that's out there that's thinking about, you know, expanding their footprint in Tasmania or you know, any other businesses that are looking to potentially, you know, have a footprint down here in Tasi. Premier's Message: Why Tasmania is the Place to Invest What's your direct message to them? What's the what's the Tasmanian advantage that they can't get anywhere else in the world? Speaker 2 The ease of doing business here, low taxing environment and a government that is passionate about insuring TAS is open for business. Tasmania is the most livable place on the planet and we have enormous opportunity when it comes to my increasing our exports and the wonderful products, the food, the wine, the cheeses, the advanced manufacturing products will continue to be exported off this wonderful island and our premium brand as well. But also the ease of doing business here, ensuring we're cutting red tape. We're absolutely possible ensuring that you know, Tasmania is open for business, but also the livability aspect as well. You want to live in a good friendly, warm environment with everything at your disposable, everything that you might want to enjoying life is here in Tasmania. We've got beautiful fresh air and natural environment, wonderful walks, but also our education system as well. In terms of, you know, even the trades, we've got high completion rates when it comes to people doing a trade compared to other states for example, which is great. And so in every aspect that you look at my very firm view and you know, open to be accused of being biassed in that sense. But it's not just me talking about it. The results are there for themselves. People can see that this place has transformed over the last 10 years. In particular now we have redeveloped our health system, new redeveloped Royal Hobart Hospital, Launceston General Hospital redevelopment and the northwest coast as well. We've got great examples of urban renewal and the best one of them is in my northwest coast of Devonport, where we've transformed City of Devonport into a vibrant area to attract people, great public private partnerships in that sense as well. And so I mentioned irrigation before, the diversity of agriculture, the quality of our brand, the livability of where we are and the fact that we have grown from a $28 billion economy to over a $40 billion economy in a short amount of time. It's not just through talk, it's through the action of investors and the Tasmanian people. That's innovative and we are, because we have to be, I mentioned before 575,000 people. It means with a relatively small population in what is the most decentralised state in the country and then the most people living outside the capital city. Effectively we have to be very, very good at what we do. Everything we produce has to be premium and that has worked and that is what we must maintain and increase. Speaker 1 Yeah, excellent. Look, it sounds like there's a lot going on. You've been a very busy man, Premier, and look, we really appreciate your time here today. It's been great to, I suppose, get under the hood a little bit around what's happened and and what, you know, the future holds for the Tasmanian economy. So yeah, thank you very much for your time again. Speaker 2 Look, thanks Tom, and thanks James, and thanks for your interest in Tasmania as well and for the fact that you've also seen an opportunity and looked at Tasmania as a place for great investment, whatever that may be. And I really appreciate it. We're open for business and look forward to working with all the people that come to Tasmania. We will welcome them with open arms. Speaker 1 Excellent. That's definitely the theme today. Tasmania is open for business. We thank you again, Premier, for anyone at home listening and that has any sort of property goals or they like to talk about the Tasmanian property market, whether that's commercial or residential, please reach out to our team at Ray White Commercial Tasmania and Ray White Hobart. We'll see you next time. Speaker 3 Thank you.