Revelations today that Michael Ferguson lied or forgot spending $93,000 of taxpayers money on the botched 30 year infrastructure strategy will rightly concern many Tasmanians.
In Question Time on Thursday*, said clearly that no consultants were used in the drafting on his strategy.
Shadow Infrastructure Minister Shane Broad said that this is either a case of deception or incompetence.
"Michael Ferguson has been caught out deliberately misleading Parliament and misleading Tasmanians," Dr Broad said.
"It could not be any clearer.
"His claim that he didn't know about almost $100,000 of taxpayers' money being used on consultants is an admission he has no idea what's going on in his own department and he should be seriously embarrassed.
"He failed as Health Minister and now his 30 year infrastructure strategy is wafer thin on substance with no projects, no actions and no recommended timeframes for development.
"Now we know despite Minister Ferguson's flat denial in Parliament, the Liberals spent almost $100,000 of taxpayer money on outside consultants. What a complete waste of money.
"The strategy is a major disappointment, and Michael Ferguson's complete disregard for the Tasmanian people is a disgrace."
* "Dr Broad was unable to be in the parliament yesterday when I told the parliament all about this infrastructure 30-year strategy, which was produced by Infrastructure Tasmania and did not involve the use of consultants.
Therefore, I am unable to give you a dollar amount because there was no outside consultancy at all." [Michael Ferguson, Question Time, 17 October 2019]
Shane Broad MP
Shadow Minister for Infrastructure
