Labor says that the government should unlock $185 million of unallocated infrastructure spending contained in this year’s budget to service water and sewerage upgrades while the government maintains that such upgrades are the responsibility of local government.

Heavy rainfall on Friday caused a sewerage pump at St Helens to overflow into George’s Bay, resulting in a closure of all its shellfish leases.

TasWater plan to accelerate its capital works program by investing $1.5 billion over a decade to improve its decaying infrastructure, including a $1.2 million pump upgrade at St Helens.

Opposition finance spokesman Scott Bacon said the government’s refusal to invest in water and sewerage infrastructure was holding the state back.

“The Liberals’ last budget had $185 million of unallocated infrastructure funding,” he said.

“Instead of building a pre-election war chest, the government should be spending the money now on vital infrastructure upgrades.”

But Treasurer Peter Gutwein blamed the state’s councils, as TasWater shareholder-owners, saying they had received more than $100 million in dividends from the corporation since 2009.

“Water and sewerage are the problems of local government but the state government has made it clear that this type of incident isn’t acceptable,” he said.

“We need infrastructure investment to make sure that these matters are fixed.

“These types of incidents impact on our brand and business confidence.”