Tasmania left off the map again …

The Turnbull Government has left Tasmania off the map again with the decision not to grant Tasmania a trial site to get mature Tasmanians back into the workforce.

“This is another poor decision by the Turnbull Government which shows that the Tasmanian Liberal Senate team has no influence within the Turnbull Government,” Senator Polley said.

The Career Transition Assistance Program aims to prepare mature aged workers to re-enter the workforce. Often older workers face barriers to get into the workforce and can be discriminated against.
“The 2017-18 Federal Budget left Tasmania off the map. Tasmania received no new funding for schools, hospitals or infrastructure spending and no jobs plan for the state. This trend has continued with this shortsighted decision,” Senator Polley said.

Tasmania has the oldest population in Australia. The current median age in Tasmania stands at 42 years of age.

“Tasmania might be the oldest state in the country in terms of median age but we also have some of the highest rates of volunteerism in the country. Tasmanians want to work but often organisations will not employ older Tasmanians who have been out of the workforce for a significant amount of time. Or they simply won’t employ people based on their age. Ageism is rife in our community and many Tasmanians are discriminated against simply because of their age,” Senator Polley said.

The trend from this Turnbull Government is to forget about Tasmania. This is another example of this. Electorally they have no sitting House of Representative seats in Tasmania and Turnbull still has retribution in his heart. Furthermore, Tasmania has no member of the Government around the cabinet table fighting for Tasmanian interests.

“Today I am calling on the Liberal Senate team to provide a reason as to why Tasmania was overlooked in favour of Ballarat, Somerset in Queensland, Central West N.S.W, Adelaide South and Perth North for the trial sites of the Career Transition Assistance Program,” Senator Polley said.
SENATOR HELEN POLLEY SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE LEADER (TASMANIA) SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR AGEING SENATOR FOR TASMANIA