The Liberal Government is keeping its election promises, cleaning up the budget mess left by Labor and the Greens and laying the foundations for a better future.
Today I spoke at the 102nd Local Government Association of Tasmania conference to reaffirm our commitment to work shoulder to shoulder with councils on attracting investment, growing the economy and creating jobs as well as delivering a single, state-wide planning scheme.
Planning reform is vital to our economy and I assured Local Government that I will work with them on this task and that our focus will be on building on what works, and fixing what doesn’t.
I am working with the Tasmanian Planning Commission and the Planning Taskforce to get all draft and interim planning schemes up to the same level as soon as possible to provide consistency to all Tasmanians, regardless of where they live.
We are committed to fixing the mess left by Labor and the Greens. Their poor financial management has forced us to make difficult decisions, including a one-year pay pause across the public sector in order to save 500 of the 1,000 public sector job cuts Labor left embedded in the budget.
The Liberal Government has already frozen wages of senior executive salaries, members of parliament, ministerial staff and board fees.
In terms of Local Government finances, a review of councillor allowances is now due and in the context of the financial challenges facing the state I encouraged all councillors to consider a pay pause as well for a 12 month period.
We are working hard to deliver the best outcomes for all Tasmanians and I am pleased the Liberal Government has confirmed it will not be passing on the impact of the Federal Budget cuts to concession payments for the current financial year.
We understand there are no silver bullets to drive economic growth and create jobs, but by working with all stakeholders we can provide the right environment for investment, development, population growth and job creation and provide a better future for all Tasmanians.
Peter Gutwein, Treasurer
