Article
On Cost of Living, Budget Cuts, Economy …
Media release – Guy Barnett, Minister for Energy and Renewables, 29 May 2023
Tasmanians embrace benefits of our Energy Saver Loan Scheme
The Rockliff Liberal Government is continuing to provide real solutions for cost-of-living relief while also offering practical ways to help households and small businesses transition to better energy efficiency.
Better energy efficiency means real decreases in electricity costs for householders and businesses, and our Government is doing everything we can to reduce energy costs for Tasmanians.
We know that many Tasmanians want to be more energy efficient but are sometimes discouraged because of the up-front cost of these investments.
To help support more Tasmanians to make this transition, the Government has established the Energy Saver Loan Scheme to provide residential and small business customers with interest free loans of up to $10,000 to spend on a range of approved energy efficiency products.
Using the Scheme, eligible participants can invest in a range of products, including
– Rooftop solar and battery storage systems;
– Electric heating /cooling, hot water heat pumps, solar hot water heating, efficient electrical appliances; and
– Building upgrades, such as window double glazing.
“Since the launch of the Scheme last October, 1558 applications to the value of $13 million have been received and are progressing,” Minister Barnett said.
“So far 1,352 loans have been approved ($11.3 million), 880 installations have been completed ($7.3 million), over 80 vendors have been approved to supply the products and services, resulting in excellent competition and choice for Tasmanian consumers.
“These energy saving applications represent more than 1000 solar systems, 200 electric heating and cooling systems, 80 double glazing installations, 60 hot water systems and more than 60 battery storage solutions.
“And, importantly, 72 per cent of projects being rolled out under the Scheme have gone to Tasmanian businesses, supporting our businesses to grow, employ more Tasmanians, and grow our economy.
“Energy efficient products will be offered through a range of vendors accredited by Brighte Captial which already has an established network of accredited vendors across Tasmania.
“I encourage Tasmanians who have been thinking about energy efficiency investments to take this opportunity and make the move now,’’ Minister Barnett said.
More information can be found about the scheme at: https://brighte.com.au/tas-energy-saver-loan-scheme/ or you can phone 1300 274 448.
Media release – David O’Byrne MP, Member for Franklin, 30 May 2023
Cruel blow to services as Treasurer’s second budget includes ‘double whammy’ cuts by stealth
In addition to a cruel $300m cut to services, it has now emerged that Treasurer Ferguson’s latest budget contains a second budget cut by stealth.
A single line item in the budget papers* reveal wage indexation government agency funding is pegged at just 2.5% for future years, despite many public sector wages agreements last year cementing higher levels of wage increases.
Franklin MP David O’Byrne described the Treasurer’s deliberate decision to not fully fund future wage increases as a ‘cut by stealth’ which will force government agencies to dip into their existing over-stretched budgets to pay future wage rises.
“Treasurer Michael Ferguson today admitted what many public sector workers feared: that his budget doesn’t fully fund the wage increases that they fought so hard last year to achieve,” said Mr O’Byrne.
“Just like this Liberal Government’s $300m cut to services in their budget which they are calling a ‘dividend’, these cuts will have a real impact on the critical government services that Tasmanians rely on including healthcare and education.
“Tasmanian government agencies are under-resourced and over-stretched as it is. Forcing them to make more cuts in future years will be disastrous.
“Critical state government services such as healthcare, education and social housing are collapsing under this Liberal Government. Making budget cuts to these services by stealth is not the solution Tasmania needs.”
*Budget Paper 2 volume 1, page 5.
Media release – Shane Broad MP, Shadow Treasurer, 30 May 2023
Symmons Plains V8s on the scrapheap due to Liberal Budget cuts
A closer look at Treasurer Michael Ferguson’s cuts-and-debt budget reveals that the beloved V8 Supercars at Symmons Plains is set for the scrapheap under the minority Liberal Government.
The Budget shows that Output 5.4 – Events and Hospitality funding is dropping from $26,987,000 in 2023-24 to $6,649,000 in 2026-27 (Budget Paper No. 2, p257)
Footnote 7 (p259) attributes the funding drop to the following:
- The decrease in Events and Hospitality from 2024-25 reflects the funding profile of Budget initiatives including Events Support and Attraction Fund, Securing Tasmania’s Iconic Events, Collingwood Magpies Netball Team in Tasmania and V8 Supercars.
The V8 Supercars has become a signature event on the northern Tasmanian calendar, and in addition to delighting motorsport fans – brings an enormous tourism boost to Launceston and the north.
Despite this, it seems the event will join the list of many casualties of Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s obsession with building a stadium above all else.
It’s little wonder he didn’t acknowledge the cuts to V8s when asked about them in Question Time today.
After ten years in office, it’s clear this Liberal minority government has lost sight of the right priorities for Tasmania.
Media release – Anita Dow MP, Shadow Minister for Health, 30 May 2023
Essential hospital jobs should be saved
Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff has his priorities wrong.
Rather than save essential hospital positions brought on during the COVID pandemic at the Launceston General Hospital, Premier Rockliff has all but confirmed he will cut these positions.
Tasmanians are getting sicker under this minority Liberal Government and our health workers are seeing an increased demand for their services.
The Premier is yet again asking our over-stretched health care workers to do more with less.
Hospital aides, ward clerks and environmental service officers have played a pivotal role in keeping our community safe and have continued to support health workers with their increased workloads.
With winter just days away, it is the wrong time to be cutting hospital resources and these workers should not lose their job at the end of June.
The government should be making these positions permanent instead of expecting departments to make $300 million in cuts to pay for a billion dollar taxpayer-funded stadium.
If the minority Liberal Government hasn’t addressed the health crisis in 10 years, they never will.
Media release – Sarah Lovell MLC, Shadow Minister for Community Services, 30 May 2023
Minister Street throws Treasurer under the bus over community sector funding
Minister for Community Services and Development Nic Street has revealed the level of discontent and split in cabinet regarding funding for the community sector.
At the post budget TasCOSS briefing on 26 May Minister Street stated that the funding provided by the Liberal Government to help Tasmanians struggling with the housing crisis and the soaring cost of living “isn’t adequate.”
He also stated:
“I’m sorry that the boost to community service organisations was only what it was… it was not what was asked for and it’s not what I wanted either. It was what I was able to deliver in the end.
“We know that what we’re spending this year isn’t adequate anyway, so the fact we’re going to spend more doesn’t mean it’s going to be adequate next year as well.”
This damningly honest critique of Michael Ferguson’s ability to manage a budget and provide adequate support to vulnerable Tasmanians throws his inept Treasurer under the bus.
With a growing number of Tasmanians turning to community services for assistance, Treasurer Ferguson’s budget was an insult to those in the sector who have stepped in to fill the void, and clearly Nic Street agrees.
The government has failed to see the critical value of these essential services, which will leave the most vulnerable with nowhere to turn, and clearly Nic Street agrees.
If they haven’t addressed the cost of living crisis in their 10 years in office, they never will.
Hansard transcript – Cassy O’Connor MP, 25 May 2023
Tasmania’s Economy
Ms O’CONNOR (Clark – Leader of the Greens) – Mr Speaker, I do not often agree with Dr Broad but on that last point I could not possibly disagree. We live fundamentally in a society and that is what is lost on our colleagues in Government, with this constant talk of money and always money. Without a healthy environment it will all fall apart, it will collapse. Civilisation will collapse if we do not look after the environment that sustains all life on Earth.
I have heard some really lousy speeches in here but I think that is the first time the House has been presented with a speech that was written by ChatGPT. It was absolute drivel, full of dishonesty, riven with clichés and completely out of touch with reality and the lived experience of Tasmanians who cannot find a home, cannot afford the rent, die waiting hours for an ambulance, cannot get in for urgent surgery and wait years to see a specialist. The detachment from the reality of the lives of the people we represent is breathtaking. To say that the plan for Tasmania is working when all around us is evidence that it is failing is hubris of the next level. I understand Mr Wood did not write that speech himself, a robot probably did.
What drives our economic strength? If members in this place were being clear and honest with themselves and others, they would understand that our strength in the visitor economy, our strength in fine food and wine and in the agriculture sectors is built on a cool climate and our brand. The reason that we have such strong results in agricultural primary industry sectors and tourism is because people come here from interstate and overseas to experience those things they will not find anywhere else in the world. We have tall trees, the likes of which you will not see in any other place except perhaps California with its redwoods. We are the big tree state, with wilderness unspoiled, unlike anywhere else in the country or on Earth.
Still clean and clear marine waters are being degraded and traded off under this Government. People come here to see our unique extraordinary species like the swift parrot, the masked owl and the Tasmanian devil. Those are the elements that make up our brand strength and that brand is being threatened in fact by both the major parties in here, because it is a race to the pits on things like native forest logging when evolved governments are getting out of it, heavily publicly subsidised and unjustifiable from an economic and an environmental point of view.
Our brand is being threatened by a government that has rolled over to the likes of the Batista brothers and is prepared to rewrite our environmental rules and unleash them on more in-shore marine rorters. Our brand is being degraded by a government that would allow commercial tourism operators to get a piece of the last free real estate in our public protected areas and build hard commercial development from which they profit for a peppercorn.
There is not much wilderness left in the world. On the mainland, there are very few places where you will see the big trees. Partly in Victoria, where they do have some regnans or swamp gums, but this island has the biggest trees, the most beautiful forests and the most important carbon banks in the country, and we need to understand that if we do not protect those elements of our brand our economy will suffer.
If your major concern is the economy then you will do everything you can as a government to protect those elements of it that give it its robustness and strength. We Greens in here cop it – allegedly anti-everything – but it is the Greens as part of the conservation movement and civil society who first defined and have always defended the brand. I have said this to Luke Martin before, that he cannot contain his hatred of the Greens. I am very glad for the TICT that he has now gone from there, but honestly, some of our tourism operators and Mr Martin himself should be on their knees thanking the conservation movement for all that work over decades to make sure places that people come from all over the world to see are protected and that forests like nowhere else on Earth are protected.
We have a moral responsibility to look after these places as part of our moral responsibility to look after Tasmania and its people. It is sheer recklessness to continue with economic policies that corrode the integrity of the brand, but that is what we get every day in here. The likes of Felix Ellis, the Minister for Resources, and Dr Broad try to outdo each other constantly, while Ms Finlay thinks she has a role as a shill for JBS. She did not pay $4400 for an exclusive dinner with the Premier like the Batista brothers did. They do not need her. They have this Premier and this Government in their back pocket.
We need to protect the brand in order to protect our economy. That is what gives us strength. Dr Woodruff and I in here live in constant hope. What inspires us every day is that there will be the necessary shift in thinking from our colleagues to better look after this place, look after its wilderness, forests and climate so that our children and grandchildren have the future that they deserve.