Annual Report 2019–20 Department of State Growth Submission to Ministers Peter Gutwein Jeremy Rockliff Michael Ferguson Premier Deputy Premier Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Treasurer Minister for Education and Training Minister for State Growth Minister for Tourism Minister for Trade Minister for Science and Technology Minister for Advanced Manufacturing and Defence Industries Elise Archer Guy Barnett Sarah Courtney Minister for the Arts Minister for Energy Minister for Small Business, Hospitality Minister for Resources and Events Dear Ministers How to contact us In accordance with the requirements of Section 36 Head Office – Hobart of the State Service Act 2000 and Section 42 of the Financial Management Act 2016, I submit to you, for presentation to Salamanca Building, 4 Salamanca Place Parliament, this report on the affairs and activities of the GPO Box 536, Hobart, TAS 7001 Australia Department of State Growth for the financial year ended 30 June 2020. Phone: 1800 030 688 Separate reports will be presented to you by the Tasmania Fax: 03 6173 0287 Development and Resources Board and the Board of Email: [email protected] Trustees of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in accordance with state legislation. Web: www.stategrowth.tas.gov.au Yours sincerely © State of Tasmania, October 2020 Disclaimer: The information contained within the Annual Report 2019–20 is considered to be correct at the time of publication. Kim Evans Images used within this publication remain the property of the Secretary copyright holder. Department of State Growth An electronic version of this report is available at October 2020 www.stategrowth.tas.gov.au 1 :: Annual Report 2019-20 Contents Message from the Secretary 3 Major contracts and consultancies 20 Publications 28 COVID-19 4 Superannuation certificate 28 Who we are 5 Compliance index 29 People and Culture 7 List of acronyms 32 Photo credits and acknowledgements 32 Industry and Business Development 8 Financial Statements Cultural and Tourism Development 9 for the year ended 30 June 2020 34 Transport Services 10 Financial Statements E n e r g y 11 for the year ended 30 June 2020 Abt Railway Ministerial Corporation 142 Business Services 12 Report from the Office of the Coordinator-General 13 Report from the Director of Energy Planning 13 Report from Infrastructure Tasmania 14 Report from the Abt Railway Ministerial Corporation 14 Supporting information Department of State Growth 15 Right to Information 15 Public Interest Disclosures Act 15 Integrity Commission 15 Legislation administered by the Department of State Growth 2019–20 16 Policies to help manage our business 19 Gifts, benefits and hospitality 19 2 :: Annual Report 2019-20 Message from the Secretary I am pleased to present the Department of State Growth Providing job pathways and supporting the supply of a skilled Annual Report for 2019-20. workforce remains key to our work, and in 2019-20 we invested $110 million in training and workforce development, focussing on We entered this financial year with a major work program in the industries that need it most. front of us, and an agenda focused on continuing to deliver the suite of services we provide to the community. While this Our investment in Tasmania’s arts, events and creative sectors agenda has remained front of mind, the arrival of the COVID-19 both pre and post the advent of COVID-19 topped $27 million pandemic presented challenges for our organisation, people, this year covering areas such as the classical and contemporary clients, programs and services. It required changes to the way arts, music, performance, film and screen as well as both small we operate, deliver services, and importantly broadened our and large events. immediate focus and efforts to the delivery of new services and And so much more. programs. Given the challenging times particularly across the second half Despite the challenges, we were well placed to respond. of 2019-20, I sincerely thank the staff of my department who The onset of COVID-19 saw the accelerated roll-out of have remained calm and resilient, adjusted their lives and work our work program of actions to drive continuous business practices and diligently supported the Tasmanian community improvement. In particular, the priority roll-out of flexible work through the pandemic. arrangements, systems and equipment meant we could continue While the economic impacts of the pandemic will take some to work as the COVID safe measures came into play, enabling us time to recover from, we continue to focus on assisting this to support continuous service delivery. recovery and supporting Tasmanian businesses, workers, families As well as making changes to the way we work, we also needed and communities. to make sure our services were accessible and tailored to the pandemic and the State of Emergency. This saw the reallocation of staff to hotlines to answer questions and provide support, the emergence of new programs and services, and rolling-out a package of financial support for businesses through a range of grants and loans. As well as providing these frontline services we have also been Kim Evans working with industry and our government colleagues to design support programs, establish forums and facilitate information Secretary sharing to help business continuity, harness emerging market Department of State Growth opportunities and to support job outcomes. Our tourism, hospitality, regional areas and small businesses have been some of the hardest hit as a result of the pandemic. This has been a large focus of our support efforts, both in providing advice and in implementing programs to help get through these challenging times. Our efforts are illustrated through the size and speed that we delivered the government’s financial support. Pleasingly, we were able to deliver more than $60 million in COVID-19 recovery and stimulus grants to Tasmanian small businesses, as well as more than $35 million in business support loans. An important part of our recovery from COVID-19, however, is also continuing to do what we do best. While we have worked hard to provide the necessary immediate and short term support, we have maintained focus on also progressing our work that will be critical to our economic recovery. This includes pushing hard to deliver our significant capital roads program even faster. In addition to our comprehensive consultation, planning and design work, $278 million was spent on our roads this year, including $32 million on maintenance. This year we also continued our efforts to be a leader in renewable energy development as we work towards the state’s target of 200 per cent renewable energy by 2040, which will be facilitated by our work to progress Marinus Link and to be the Battery of the Nation. 3 :: Annual Report 2019-20 COVID-19 COVID-19 has had a significant impact on how we work and Through the COVID-19 Small Business Support grant programs what we deliver. more than $60 million in assistance has been delivered with more than 18 200 grants provided to Tasmanian small We have seen staff adapt to new working arrangements and businesses. More than $35 million in business support loans use new technologies to work more effectively. Our staff have were provided to more than 360 businesses supporting business worked tirelessly together in many different circumstances to continuity, viability and sustainability and more than 400 help fellow Tasmanians. businesses accessed the Digital Ready for Business program. The delivery of our COVID-19 response would not have An additional $20 million in support for small business is been possible without our existing emergency management expected to be announced in July 2020. systems and the flexible and adaptive COVID-19 emergency coordination processes we put in place. To help those who lost their job, had hours reduced or needed to retrain, an additional $6.3 million was made available through We commenced a proactive response to the emerging the Rapid Response Skills Initiative with almost 400 applications pandemic in early February setting up a business continuity for subsidised training assessed and approved by the end of the planning group to prepare should Tasmania be impacted. financial year. Once the first Tasmanian cases were identified, and ahead of the A Skills Matching Service was also established to help match job State of Emergency being declared, we implemented a dedicated ready workers with industries and businesses who needed staff incident management team to coordinate our further planning, which saw more than 200 displaced workers connected with preparedness, response and recovery activities. local employers or assisted in applying for other As part of our internal response we mobilised staff from across advertised vacancies. the organisation and equipped them to work remotely and Also under the Rapid Response Skills Initiative the Train Now connect digitally, and adopted rapid interoperability to allow Fund was established to help employers up-skill their existing the flow of expertise and resources to where they were most workforce. Due to demand the program closed on 16 June 2020 needed. We also provided staff to whole-of-government with all funding allocated. interoperability arrangements to support other agencies and established and staffed hotlines and other personnel-intensive We assisted Skilled Visa holders struggling with loss or functions. reductions in work to maintain a connection with their employers with almost 340 applicants provided with up to In the early stages of the COVID-19 response we assisted the $2 000 each through the Temporary Visa Holder Skilled Department of Health plan, set up and operate testing sites Employees Assistance Program. in the north east, north west and south, with multiple mobile clinics also made available across the state. We also oversaw To support our tourism and hospitality sectors and cultural and traffic management at the fixed sites and provided electronic creative industries we administered new funding of $1.5 million and message boards to display important public health messages in new operational measures of more than $2 million to specifically key locations.