Call for fair spend on Bass Strait

Tasmania's economy will forever struggle to keep its head above water without adequate federal funding to compensate for the obstacle of Bass Strait.

That's the message taken to Canberra on Tuesday by a group of stakeholders and politicians growing increasingly impatient about what they say is an unfair funding allocation.

The federal government should contribute a subsidy equivalent to the cost of a highway between Tasmania and Victoria, and that's not happening, National Sea Highway Groups convenor Peter Brohier said.

"This is very affordable, it's something that can be achieved virtually overnight," he said of the extra $170 million a year needed to bolster the scheme.

A Productivity Commission inquiry into the Bass Strait subsidy scheme released in June recommended a raft of changes and raised concerns about whether the funds were reaching the intended recipients.

Tasmanian independent senator Jacqui Lambie says the time for reviews has passed.

"Until they fix this Bass Strait you will not start to see Tasmania pick up economically," she told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

"This is the heart of one of our biggest problems in Tasmania and it needs to be fixed immediately."

Senator Lambie called on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to dip into his pot of $50 billion set aside for infrastructure spending.

"If you want to help Tasmania, you need to fix this Bass Strait crisis first and foremost," she said.

Independent Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie said it was essential there was an effective subsidy for people, vehicles and freight moving in and out of Tasmania by sea.

"The cost of getting things across Bass Strait is without doubt the most significant brake on Tasmanian economic development and it's the easiest thing to fix," Mr Wilkie said.

The necessary $170 million would "turbo charge" Tasmania's economy and be easily offset by the resultant number of residents no longer needing welfare, he said.

Liberal MP Andrew Nikolic said the government continued to consider the Productivity Commission report.