For the past several months, The Examiner has run a campaign calling on the government to take decisive action on managing the river, address sediment build-up issues and establish a single management authority.

The Examiner has spoken to stakeholders and users of the river who are critical of the Tamar Estuary Management Taskforce, which has overseen and investigated solutions since the Launceston City Deal in 2017.

While the Liberals stopped short of promising a new authority, the policy does include recurrent funding to support estuary management, a welcome injection of cash that will provide lasting solutions.

Interestingly, the Greens have promised to abolish TEMT and replace it with the Tamar Management Authority, as part of their estuary policy.

However, reinstating the dredging program, which is the cornerstone of the policy, may not be the silver bullet solution it seems and doesn't go far enough in addressing the other long-term problems.

While sediment build-up has been the ire of the community, and in particular users of the river such as kayakers and recreational boaters, it is not the only problem the estuary faces - including discharge of sewage through Launceston's combined stormwater system, an infestation of rice grass and poor water quality, which could be impacted by dredging.

The commitment to sediment build-up is welcome, as it's something the community has been calling for, for some time. However, it appears the Liberals are also pre-empting the TEMT sediment management report, which is due for release in the first quarter of 2021.

This report, commissioned as part of the task force's work, will investigate all options, not just dredging, to solve the problem of sediment build-up.

The Liberals have some work to do to convince the community that dredging is the best way forward and that they've investigated mitigating factors like the impact on the environment, community expectation and cost without seeing or reading the TEMT report.