The Hodgman Liberals came into office promising to ‘rebuild’ essential services.
Instead, they have made deep cuts to public health and education, putting a projected 1200 public sector workers out of work while pledging to spend the bulk of a projected $560 million GST windfall on roads and infrastructure works over the next four years.
The new government has diminished essential services, overseeing the loss of key hospital staff, community supports and classroom educators, with the cuts embedded across the forward estimates of the 2014-15 Budget.
This government has its priorities all wrong. Given an opportunity reinvest in our social infrastructure as an economic enabler, it is putting concrete, bitumen and steel before the health and educational outcomes of Tasmanians.
They are effectively using the wages of discarded public sector workers to build more roads.
If new money is flowing from Canberra, the Premier and his Cabinet should spend the bulk of it repairing damage they have done to essential services after promising to ‘rebuild’ them before the last election.
Anything less will be a grave breach of the contract they made with Tasmanian voters.
Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens’ Health & Human Services spokesperson
