He said Treasurer Peter Gutwein’s hands-off style would not deliver desperately needed infrastructure improvements.

“The Liberals’ lack of engagement with the Federal Government means nothing has been done almost three years into this term of government,” he said.

“Labor put $75 million on the table during the federal election campaign to improve infrastructure in Launceston [and] that commitment should be a starting point for the Liberals.”

Greens' Water spokesperson Andrea Dawkins the Tasmanian community has been left hanging by the government’s “refusal to have a meaningful discussions about critical water and sewerage infrastructure funding.”

“TasWater have said they will likely raise charges by 10 per cent in the next two years. This fee hike will hit disadvantaged Tasmanians the hardest,” she said.

“Just adding the works needed on the Federal Infrastructure Priority List isn't enough, Tasmania needs a commitment from the state and federal government on sharing the costs of upgrading the state's aging water and sewerage infrastructure.”

Tasmanian Liberal senator David Bushby said the responsibility for the challenges Tasmania faced with water and sewerage infrastructure did not lay at a federal level.

“Primary responsibility for water and sewerage has traditionally rested with local government and, although state governments have inserted themselves into this issue at times, by creating regional water authorities and later TasWater, it seems clear, consistent with statements by the state government, that this has not changed,” Senator Bushby said.

“Despite this, it is clear that these challenges are real and that they need to be addressed in coming years. I would hope that local government, through TasWater, will seriously work to address these challenges by considering all feasible options, including the viability of TasWater to continue to pay dividends to local government.”

Senator Bushby said unless it was clear that, despite all options being employed at a local government level, the challenges could not be adequately met, he could not see a role for the federal level of government to play.

“At that point , it may be in the interests of Tasmanians for both state and federal levels of government to join the discussion to explore how the challenges can be addressed,” he said.

Mr Gutwein said it was “a bit rich for Labor to complain, given that they failed to address this issue during their 16 years in government.”

“We believe local councils can and should invest more in water and sewerage infrastructure,” he said.

“The government is more than prepared to work with TasWater to address the issue, but local government need to show they are serious about this, before they come to the government with their hand out.”

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