If one area of the state is booming, it is natural for others to ask where its fair share of government spending is.

Master Builders Tasmania has called on the government to prioritise infrastructure spending in Northern Tasmania - even if that prioritisation was at the expense of projects already earmarked for the South.

Such a call is music to any parochial Northerner's ears.

There is no arguing that the Royal Hobart Hospital development, the biggest public project ever undertaking in Tasmania, is a good thing for the entire state.

However, the immediate flow-on benefits are largely confined to the capital.

While the government will not want to risk developments already under way, there is little doubt that North and North-West Tasmania could do with a stimulus kick.

The areas have been hit hard in recent years by job losses, particularly in mining and manufacturing industries.

There are no major projects on the horizon.

Even potential ones such as the University of Tasmania's proposed redevelopment of Inveresk rely on a lot of other circumstances.

There is clearly a danger of Northern Tasmania living a cargo cult mentality and putting all its economic hopes on one major project.

We have lived it for more than a decade with former timber company Gunns' proposed pulp mill.

It would have been good for employment and the region if the pulp mill had gone ahead, but while we were waiting for that, we should have been building other opportunities.

Businessmen Josef Chromy and Errol Stewart are the shining lights in the North, pushing ahead with developments that will enrich Launceston.

The Launceston City Council also has a strong agenda of what it would like to see progress and should be commended for its City Heart project.

But we want to see some action around things that the state government can influence.

Invest some money in the CH Smith building to attract development of the long derelict site like it did for the Myer site in Hobart. Perhaps build a school at Legana, one of the state's fastest-growing areas.

Confidence is returning to the state but the abundance of development in the South compared to the North and North-West risks a two-speed economy.

Treasurer Peter Gutwein, being based in the Bass electorate and having run a business in Northern Tasmania for many years, will know this.

Busy preparing for May's budget, he must be thinking of ways to drive the economy in his patch.

There is always a "Northern Package" in the state budget and it will have to be a decent one this year to kick-start the region.

The government must not forget that seats in the Northern half of the state are what delivered Will Hodgman power.

Ten out of the 15 MHAs sitting in Parliament come from north of Campbell Town.

Members from Bass, Braddon and Lyons hold senior positions in cabinet.

There is the aforementioned Treasurer but also Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff and Health Minister Michael Ferguson who are in charge of the two biggest areas of the budget.

Yes, they are ministers of all Tasmania, but it is critical that they fight for their turf too.