‘Tasmanian jobs crisis deepens’. Moody’s’ downgrade …

• 5200 jobs lost since September last year
• Tasmania’s participation rate plummets as people give up looking for work
• Government failing to respond to an employment crisis

Tasmania’s employment crisis is only getting worse with more than five thousand jobs lost in the last year.

Shadow Treasurer Scott Bacon said the official employment statistics from the ABS are alarming.

“5200 jobs have been lost since September. It’s reached crisis point,” Mr Bacon said.

“The participation rate in Tasmania is plummeting, down to just 59.3%.”

When the participation rate fell to 59.9% in January 2014, Peter Gutwein was outspoken.

“What’s worse, the participation rate has collapsed to a near 10 year low. The unemployment rate is going down because people are giving up looking for work, if Ms Giddings somehow claims that’s good news then it shows just how out of touch she is.

In fact, if Tasmania’s participation rate was at the national level our unemployment rate would actually be over 15 per cent.” (Peter Gutwein, January 2014, http://www.petergutwein.com.au/news/another-300-jobs-go-labor-and-greens/?ccm_paging_p_b=139)

“What does Peter Gutwein have to say about the participation rate being at 59.3%?,” Mr Bacon said.

“The Government’s claims of job creation are in tatters. The Liberals have done nothing but sit on their hands for the last two and a half years.

“Tasmania desperately needs leadership when it comes to the jobs crisis but the Government is not showing any.”

• Moody’s Tasmania downgrade shows up Gutwein’s Budget lies

 Black day for Hodgman Government
 State’s rating downgraded from Aa1 to Aa2
 Government bungles including energy crisis blow Tasmania’s finances

Respected international ratings agency Moody’s has today passed a damning indictment on the Hodgman Government and Treasurer Peter Gutwein’s management of Tasmania’s finances by downgrading the state’s credit rating.

Shadow Treasurer Scott Bacon said Mr Gutwein’s credibility as an economic manager was in tatters in the wake of the downgrade from Aa1 to Aa2.

“There is no harsher verdict Moody’s could pass on Mr Gutwein and the Liberal Government than to issue a downgrade,” Mr Bacon said.

“It highlights the fundamental, damning lie behind Mr Gutwein’s budget – a budget which is propped up by a dividend from the TT Line that he cannot spend and his not-to-be-believed growth targets.

“It’s astonishing that today the Premier would stand in the Parliament and try to talk up his government’s economic management and the state of our finances on the same day that Tasmania’s jobs crisis deepens with 5,200 jobs now lost since September and with the spectre of the Moody’s downgrade hovering in the background.

“This announcement blows Mr Gutwein’s budget surplus out of the water and makes specific mention of the government’s bungled response to the energy crisis which saw Matthew Groom spend $60 million importing diesel generation.

“Mr Gutwein and Mr Hodgman now need to explain to Tasmanians how they have blown the state’s finances.

“They need to explain to Tasmanians why they have been arrogantly talking up their so-called credentials when things were going so horrifically wrong and they knew about it at the same time.”
Scott Bacon MP Shadow Treasurer