Tom Lynch, right of photo
While external forces often determine the overall direction a government takes, the path it chooses to get there is for it to determine based on its values and beliefs and the will of the people it represents.
The global financial crisis and unrealistic forecasts for GST growth has significantly reduced the revenue the Tasmanian government has available to it to fund all the activities it undertakes.
We all understand this was out of the government’s control, but what was well and truly in its control was the how it responded to this – which services and functions did it prioritise and which was it ready to abandon.
The Premier has told Tasmanians that over the forward estimate period GST revenue is expected to fall by as much as $1.7 billion dollars from that forecast in the 2008-09 budget and that as a direct result of this the government has no alternative other than cutting basic services in schools, in hospitals, in National Parks, in libraries, in child protection, in housing, in mental health, in tourism – across the whole spectrum of service the community enjoys.
But this story doesn’t really add up.
Since 2009, when the government became aware its GST forecasts were stupidly optimistic it has made hundreds of millions of dollars of spending decisions – and it is these decisions as much as any reduction in GST revenue that has placed the state in its current financial situation. It is these decisions that have led to the service cuts we are now experiencing.
In the 2010 election campaign, 6 months after it knew GST revenue forecasts had been significant reduced the government made some $475M worth of election promises. In the 2010-11 budget, 12 months after drastically reducing their income predictions it announced a further $300M in spending decisions.
While some $90M worth of election promises were subsequently repealed in the Mid-Year Financial Statement, a further $85M worth of spending was included in the 2011-12 budget. In all, since the 2009 budget the Tasmanian government has made a total of almost $775M of spending decisions.
Good government is about making decisions and setting priorities and to understand the priorities of this government you only need to look at its spending decisions.
It reduced the taxes we would receive from betting agency Betfair by $24M and then cut Mental Health Services by $28.5M
It allocated $24M to support the Parliament Square development and then cut $53.6M from the Police budget
It continued to fund the Three Capes Track development at a cost of $12.8M and then cut the budget for Primary Industry and Parks by $7.9M.
It renegotiated the Hawthorn football contract at a cost to the budget of $11.3M and then cut $11.7M from the budget for Children and Youth Services.
It allocated $16M to fund the Metro Park and Ride experiment and then cut $15M from the budget provided to run our courts and prison system.
It reduced income by $177M by cutting Land Tax and then turned around and cut funding for elective surgery by $60M.
It goes on and on – the truth is that the $775M of spending decisions our government has made since the 2009 budget significantly exceeds the $568M in cuts it is now making to basic services.
By making better decisions all the cuts to services we are currently seeing could have been avoided.
Government is about making decisions and setting priorities.
This government places the interest of betting agencies, developers and football clubs before the interests of our children’s education and the health and safety of our community.
It has made bad decisions and set the wrong priorities.
And that is why we are saying – You have gone the wrong way Premier and it’s time to turn back.
It’s time to review all our spending decisions and focus on the provision of basic services.
It’s time to begin real structural reform of our public sector to ensure it is providing services as efficiently as possible.
It’s time to lift the fog of fear that has descended on so many in our community who don’t know what they will do if they need health care of if their school doesn’t have the resources to provide their child with support to get a proper education.
It’s time to start listening to the growing chorus of voices that are saying – the path you have chosen is the wrong one – it’s time to turn back.
To be blunt : You have gone the wrong way Premier – Go back.
• Download, Detailed Government Spending, with Data:
Media_Release_-_Govt_Spending_with_data.pdf
On Tasmanian Times:
• John Biggs: Lara’s Metaphor
• John Lawrence: It will be a tough 2012
• Ruth Forrest: The dire state of Tasmania’s finances
• Lara Giddings: Taking tough Budget decisions
Examiner:
• Confidence vote: heat on O’Byrne. Libs claim gag on nurses
Premier:
• Premier’s Report to the Community, Download:
Premierscommunityreport15_Health_cuts.doc
• GREENS REJECT CALLS FOR HOSPITAL CLOSURE
Paul O’Halloran MP
Greens Health spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today dismissed talk of closing the Mersey Hospital at Latrobe as a means of finding savings in health, saying it would prove counter-productive.
Greens Health spokesperson Paul O’Halloran MP said there was in fact strong potential for the Mersey to expand the considerable work it has been doing in specialist short stay elective surgery procedures, which he has been advocating for, to help relieve pressure on the North West Regional.
“During my tour of the state’s hospitals last month it became clear that the Mersey has been conducting very good work in areas such as cataracts, dental and day-only orthopaedic procedures and there was capacity to expand that work,” Mr O’Halloran said.
“The Greens are urging the Health Minister Michelle O’Byrne to work with the Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon to look at ways to increase the capacity of the Mersey Hospital to develop its potential in this area.”
“Creating additional capacity at the Mersey could be one way to take up some of the slack created by the State’s cuts to elective surgery.”
“We need to find creative, evidence-based and constructive answers to the current health budget crisis. This appears to be an opportunist, knee-jerk response.”
Note: Mr O’Halloran will host a Health Stakeholders Roundtable tomorrow in Hobart to examine the merits of a single-funder model, or Federal Government takeover.
