Media release – Kristie Johnston MP, independent Member for Clark, 25 May 2023

Initial Comment on State Budget 2023

In the Treasurer’s Budget Speech, he states that we must “consider every expense, live within our means and avoid adding to the inflation burden felt by Tasmanian households”.  This is in stark contrast to his Government basically signing a blank cheque with the AFL which will potentially cripple the state’s economy for years to come.

For a state with one of the country’s inflation rates, this budget gives token gestures to the most vulnerable sections of our community, and is little comfort to those who need help the most.

Interestingly, it also appears there are budget allocations that are simply recycled commitments from the 2022 budget and budgets before that.

This budget is of little help to the real Tasmanians I see in my Electorate Office who struggle each and every day just to survive.  These people are being left behind because of our Government’s skewed priorities.  They deserve better.

People such as:

–          The young mum escaping domestic violence who is sleeping on a couch with her children because all of Hobart’s women’s shelters are full.

–          The elderly man who was left on a stretcher for 60 hours in the Royal Hobart Hospital’s Emergency with a shattered shoulder because a bed just wasn’t available.

–          The little boy with ADHD who desperately wants to learn, fit in and be the best he can at school, but there is a 4-5 year wait for a paediatrician at the Royal Hobart Hospital and private practices aren’t accepting new patients.

–          The disability pensioner who is going without essential medication and treatment because she can’t find a GP who will bulk-bill.

This budget is big on general promises but it is scant on detail when it comes to actually implementing these grandiose ideas.  Given this Government’s track record of failing to deliver on infrastructure, the snail’s pace that they implement reform or new initiatives, and the recycling of old budget announcements you have to wonder if half of these budget allocations will ever see the light of day.

I say bring on Budget Estimates and the chance to interrogate this ‘more of the same with new pictures’ budget.

Media release – Shane Broad MP, Shadow Treasurer, 25 May 2023

Record debt and savage cuts

Treasurer Michael Ferguson has smashed the Budget with record debt and savage cuts across the forward estimates.

The Liberals came to office with zero net debt, but after almost 10 years, all we see is record debt and an ongoing housing, health and cost of living crisis.

Debt will hit $5.6 billion and the state will spend $883 million on interest payments over the next four years. This means the Liberals will be borrowing more than $3.8 million every day for the next four years.

The debt situation is so bad that the Liberals have abandoned Peter Gutwein’s fiscal strategy with borrowing costs speeding past their former limit of 6 per cent of cash receipts, hitting 7.8 per cent by 2026/27.

At the same time the Liberals’ reckless budget management is sending Tasmania deeper and deeper into debt, their wrong priorities will be felt by every Tasmanian through savage cuts to essential services.

It is clear that Jeremy Rockliff and his minority government plan to rip $300 million from health, housing and education to help pay for their stadium.

Michael Ferguson’s first attempt at a budget last year was a total failure.

Now he’s had to try and smuggle Jeremy Rockliff’s outrageous stadium through, his second effort is even worse.

Media release – Cassy O’Connor MP, Greens Leader, 25 May 2023

Typical Liberal Budget Fails Tasmanians In Need

In the midst of the state’s worst ever housing crisis, with the cost of living rising every day, and tens of thousands living in poverty, the Liberals have handed down a Budget that only grudgingly lifts a pinky finger for Tasmanians in need.

Instead, they’ve decided a Macquarie point stadium is their priority. $230 million for the stadium is prioritised over new money to build new homes – and that will only be the small change of the future stadium spend if it’s built.

Treasurer Michael Ferguson had an opportunity to put forward a bold, compassionate vision for our island and its people. Instead he trotted out a Budget that locks in more homelessness, more hardship, and more Tasmanians waiting longer for healthcare.

Perhaps the only thing of real substance in hundreds of pages of Budget Papers is the welcome inclusion of $30 million in new funding for the government’s response to recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry. The Greens advocated for this allocation formally with the Premier late last year.

After a decade of failure in housing, education, and health, this is yet another typical Liberal Budget. And just like every other Budget since 2014, it makes sure the profits of big corporations and the wealthy are protected, while tens of thousands of Tasmanians are again given the crumbs.

If things are brutal in housing now, it seems they’re about to get worse. Homes Tasmania, the state’s new corporatised housing provider, expects the housing wait list to grow to 5,500 applicants within a year. It’s projected the waiting time for desperate Tasmanians will grow from a year to 18 months.

Rather than trying to tackle the deep societal challenges facing Tasmania, the Liberals are more worried about rolling out the red carpet of the AFL, cravenly caving in to multinational corporations, and looking after other big money interests.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – Tasmanians deserve so much better.

Media release – Cassy O’Connor MP, Greens Leader; Dr Rosalie Woodruff MP, Greens Environment spokesperson, 25 May 2023

Liberals Fail Climate, Environment Once Again

Cassy O’Connor MP:

As the planet heats, countless species are being driven to extinction. Governments have a moral responsibility to protect intact habitat and build carbon stores, but that’s not reflected in this year’s State Budget.

While WA and Victoria are ending native forest logging – Jeremy Rockliff’s government continue to subsidise the mendicant industry. Not only that, they want to ramp up logging in to the future reserve forests, protected over a decade ago for their high conservation value.

Does Premier Rockliff want to be responsible for restarting the forest wars, and accelerating the extinction of species like the swift parrot, masked owl and Tasmanian devil?

There’s minimal funding put into protecting the outstanding universal values of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, just a dogged attachment to privatising our protected wild places.

In an escalating climate crisis and approaching El Nino summer, there’s a horrifying under-investment in bushfire mitigation and emergency service volunteers. For those who love wild lutruwita/Tasmania, it’s a frightening prospect.

At time when we need to be supporting businesses to rapidly decarbonise, the Liberals have also collapsed investment over the forward estimates into industry emissions reduction, creation of new renewable technologies, and green hydrogen.

Dr Rosalie Woodruff MP:

As we’ve come to expect, the State Budget fails nature utterly. To the Liberals, it’s as though the climate and biodiversity crisis doesn’t exist.

The great environmental challenges facing lutruwita – the loss of biodiversity, and habitat pressures – are increased under the Liberals’ budget.

Environmental management resourcing is cut by nearly 80% across the Budget. Funding for a circular economy stops too, with nothing to help generate new industries.

The miniscule funding for threatened species recovery efforts ends for the orange-bellied and swift parrots – and nothing is listed to help recover the myriad other endangered species.

Environment Minister, Roger Jaensch seems content to monitor species towards extinction. Numbers plummet without mitigation, as protecting species conflicts with the Liberals’ political, anti-science native forest destruction plan.

The environment, along with housing and health services, are all victims in this Liberal ‘stadium or bust’ budget.

Media release – Rosalie Woodruff MP, Greens Health spokesperson, 25 May 2023

Liberals’ Budget Fails on Health Again

Treasurer Michael Ferguson is trying to pretend he’s handed down a Budget that will tackle the health crisis, but Tasmanians will see straight through his shameless attempts at spin.

This Liberal budget has sacrificed everything, including critical future funding for health, and the staff and patients who desperately need timely care, into funding the AFL’s stadium demands.

The increased spending in health over the next four years will barely cover the stubbornly high rate of inflation, increase in admissions, and other predictable cost increases. It’s not even the minimum we need to keep pace.

The health system is at breaking point and the lives of Tasmanians at ever greater risk as a result.

This Budget has some tinkering at the edges, but for the most part it looks like the status quo in health will continue – and the status quo is a catastrophe. Tasmania has the slowest ambulance response times in the country, years long waits for life-saving surgery and specialist care, and overflowing emergency departments.

This government has crowed about record spending in health every year for a decade, and every year we’ve seen things get worse. That’s because rather than trying to fix the issues in health, the Liberals are instead pretending that a gradual increase in real health costs reflects truly new investment, when it doesn’t.

What Tasmanians want is an ambitious, urgent investment in health staffing and infrastructure. We need hundreds more nurses, paramedics, doctors, and other critical staff, and we need the infrastructure to support them.

No-one is pretending the challenges in health aren’t complex, but nothing will change if the government doesn’t change their approach.

Unfortunately the Liberals seem to be more worried about looking like they are doing something, instead of actually making a difference in the health system.

Media release – Tasmanian Small Business Council, 25 May 2023

Steady as it Goes for Small Business

‘Whilst there are no big number announcements for the small business sector in today’s budget, it is clear that the Treasurer is seeking a steady as it goes approach with the funding made available’, said Robert Mallett, CEO of the Tasmanian Small Business Council.

‘The ongoing implementation of the Tasmanian Small Business Growth Strategy backed by some dollars to implement and achieve this is a positive initiative but the significant interest in the recently closed small business projects grants process demonstrates a need for even greater investment into the sector.’

‘Recent announcements by the Minister for Energy Hon Guy Barnett which will provide bill relief for 38,000 small business energy users is another positive pick me up for offsetting increasing energy prices due in the next five weeks.’

‘Ongoing moves to encourage small businesses to invest in more energy efficient infrastructure through the low interest loan scheme will also assist in putting downward pressure on energy bills and increase profitability for those businesses able to take up the opportunity.’

‘Continuing support for small businesses with the Business Advice and Financial Guidance Program gives an ideal opportunity for business owners to access specialist advice which is directly relevant to their enterprise and their future’.

Editor’s note: Robert Mallett is a former Tasmanian Liberal Party candidate for Denison (now Clark) at the 2014 state election.

Media release – Mental Health Council of Tasmania in partnership with the Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council Tasmania, 25 May 2023

Lived Experience Training and Development Hub a win for Tasmania’s mental health sector

The Mental Health Council of Tasmania (MHCT) and the Alcohol Tobacco and other Drug Council of Tasmania (ATDC) have together welcomed the investment announced in today’s State Budget for a Lived Experience Training and Development Hub (the Hub).

The Hub, which will be jointly funded by the State Government and Primary Health Tasmania, will provide training pathways for people with lived experience of mental health concerns and people with lived experience of alcohol and other drug use, empowering them to effectively apply their unique expertise to support others through their own treatment or recovery journeys.

MHCT CEO, Connie Digolis, said the funding was a welcome acknowledgement from the Government of the value that people with lived experience bring to the mental health and alcohol and other drug sectors.

“We welcome the funding announced today for a Lived Experience Training and Development Hub in Tasmania. Lived experience is a unique and invaluable qualification that comes from a person having been through mental health challenges of their own, or having supported a loved one through those challenges. Having lived experience embedded in the system leads to better experiences and better outcomes for the people accessing services, as well as their friends and family.”

“People with lived experience have a wealth of knowledge and insights that, due mostly to a lack of training and development opportunities in the state, have been largely overlooked. The Hub will be a place where people can learn how to best harness and apply their experience to help others who are going through many of the same things they have, and who are accessing many of the same supports and services that they have,” said Ms Digolis.

Alison Lai, CEO of the ATDC, agreed that a bolstered Lived Experience Workforce will have wide ranging benefits for both sectors.

“We echo the Council’s praise for the government’s decision. There has been a significant increase in demand for the inclusion of lived experience in both the mental health and alcohol and other drug workforces, and the Hub will provide an excellent opportunity for our two health sectors to work together to support the many Tasmanians that are choosing to work in these roles,” said Ms Lai.

MHCT has already developed and piloted a four-day course, which introduces people to the fundamentals of Lived Experience Work, with overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants.

In addition to upskilling Lived Experience Workers, the Hub will also provide training to help organisations improve their systems, supports and workplace culture to better understand, value and support Lived Experience roles.

MHCT will be seeking further information about other mental health investments outlined in today’s budget over the coming weeks.

Media release – David O’Byrne MP, Member for Franklin, 25 May 2023

2023-24 Tasmanian Budget Wrap

OVERVIEW

“Treasurer Michael Ferguson has delivered a self-described ‘budget for battlers’, but this budget is clearly battling after nine years of Liberal Government.

“Despite the spin and rhetoric, it fails to deal with the key issues confronting Tasmanians.

“Never has there been a greater example of a government not wanting to lead and take responsibility than the complete lack of detail around housing, skills and training in these budget papers.

FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY

“It’s not clear if this government’s new $300m ‘efficiency dividend’ is a ferocious attack on core government services or if it’s a cruel accounting trick to mask the fact that the Treasurer is plunging the state into an eye watering level of debt with nothing to show for it.

“The Liberal Government have rewritten their own fiscal strategy in a futile attempt to hide the fact they’re exceeding their own debt ceiling benchmarks from last year. Debt servicing costs will now exceed 7.7% of General Government Sector cash receipts, which is way over the 6% threshold set in last year’s fiscal strategy.

HOUSING:

“The government’s own optimistic housing targets paint a devastating picture of the worsening housing crisis: at least an extra 1,000 people on the housing wait list in the next twelve months.

“We know public and social housing properties are in dire need of maintenance, with well over 200 of them being un-rentable. But net recurrent (maintenance) expenditure per dwelling is set to decrease over the forward estimates.

“There’s barely six pages of information from this Liberal Government’s new arms’ length Housing Authority in the budget papers. There is absolutely zero detail about where the funding is going, what funding community housing providers are receiving, or where all Homes Tasmania’s debt is going.

“This is a massive backwards step for transparency and accountability.

“It is just extraordinary that the budget papers actually suggest to visit the Homes Tasmania website for more information [BP2.2 p.129]. There’s s still almost zero detail on the website about this Government’s housing policies.

SKILLS, TRAINING, EDUCATION:

“The progressive cuts to TasTAFE are deeply concerning – TasTAFE will receive $15m less grant funding in 2026-27 than they received last year. Despite the Treasurer saying in his budget speech that there are “jobs looking for Tasmanians”, this Government have clearly forgotten that TasTAFE plays a critical role in upskilling Tasmanians into these jobs and addressing growing workforce challenges.

“Just like this their arms’ length housing authority, this government’s corporatized TasTAFE also gets barely six pages of information in the budget papers.

“It’s awfully convenient that this government’s education targets have completely changed from last year, which means this year’s budget completely fails to outline how this government are following through on their promise to improve literacy and numeracy in public schools.

INFRASTRUCTURE:

“Once again we see this government failing to deliver almost 30% of its infrastructure budget last year. Minister Ferguson has a long track record of infrastructure delays, underspends and broken transport promises.

“Just one example is the claim within the Treasurer’s speech that the South East Traffic Solution will be delivered on time. Just yesterday in Parliament the Minister admitted in response to my question that a key planning and approvals process had been completely bungled, which has pushed back a key stage of this project by up to four years.

“There’s nothing in this budget that will even begin to address Hobart’s worsening traffic congestion for the next four years. How much more congested will Macquarie and Davey Streets be by 2027?

ENERGY:

“Estimated costs of Marinus Link and Battery of the Nation are in excess of $6.4b but this Government have yet to outline how they intend to fund and deliver the project and what benefits these projects will bring to Tasmanians.

“The sheer scale of these projects and the complete lack of transparency is why these projects have been identified as ‘risks to the budget’.

GBEs DIVIDEND POLICY

“In this budget we see huge upward revisions in dividends from Government-owned businesses totaling an extra $49.1m in the next three years. Siphoning money out of GBE’s to fund a budget black hole is terrible fiscal management and puts the critical services these GBE’s provide at risk.

“TasNetworks will return an extra $10.6m to the government this year compared to what was budgeted – in spite of TasNetworks coming under fire for planning widespread job cuts over the next few years.”

Statement – Youth Network of Tasmania, 25 May 2023

YNOT State Budget Response

  • Todays’ budget does very little to ease cost of living pressures for young Tasmanians and provides little relief for government procured community service organisations.
  • We are surprised and disappointed that our government has chosen to leave young Tasmanians aged 18–25-years to flounder as they attempt to live independently in our community.
  • We are pleased to see funding in today’s budget to ease cost of living pressures for Tasmanians on low incomes. However, most of the measures will have little to no impact on the lives of young Tasmanians in real terms. Many young people on low incomes, who are not eligible for concession, will miss out on cost-of-living relief.

·         We’ve heard many stories from young people as they try to make ends meet, such as rationing food to make it last, going without food to cover utilities, or going without heating to pay the bills. Others cannot afford to access healthcare, particularly general practitioners who do not offer bulk billing services, or transport to get where they need to go.

  • Young Tasmanians are telling us that they already feel left behind, and this Budget does little to support our young people to thrive.
  • YNOT works with young people to drive positive change for them in Tasmania with the vision of ensuring all our state’s young people are valued and can achieve anything.

Media release – TasCOSS, 25 May 2023

2023/24 State Budget

The following may be used as direct quotes from Dr Charlie Burton, Acting CEO, TasCOSS:

  • The Government openly acknowledged this was going to be a tough Budget, but even in challenging economic times, the goal of every budget must be to ensure all Tasmanians can afford the basics; however, this Budget fails to do this.
  • For the 120,000 Tasmanians doing it tough, this Budget won’t make a difference. And while the Premier boasts Tasmania’s economy has notched up ‘more records than Elvis’ in recent years, our not-so-greatest hits include a record-high social housing waitlist and wait times, the biggest increase in homelessness in the country, the most unaffordable rents; and the worst levels of digital exclusion.
  • The biggest gap in this Budget was the Government’s failure to recognise the critical value of the essential services our industry provides, barring an inadequate one-off payment. This is incredibly concerning, especially in the face of increasing demand for community services, as we battle a housing, health and cost of living crisis. This funding shortfall will result in community service organisations left with no choice but to turn away Tasmanians who are in desperate need.
  • This short-sighted decision not to provide fair and reasonable funding for frontline services will ultimately result in more people presenting to Emergency Departments, more people living on the streets and more people unable to afford the basics.
  • While the $250 energy bill relief is welcome, it will quickly be eaten up by the anticipated electricity price increase, meaning all Tasmanians will be worse off each year. We call on the Government to cap energy prices at CPI to protect Tasmanian consumers against further price hikes — it’s been done before and we know it works.
  • We are extremely concerned that rising energy costs will see more Tasmanians entrenched in financial hardship. These rising costs also have a significant impact on the organisations which support them.
  • One of the welcome Budget measures was $1.5 million for a new Affordable Rentals Initiative, which will assist in making housing more attainable for those currently grappling with skyrocketing rents.
  • There were some smaller scale funding announcements for mental health, LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians and neighbourhood houses, but overall we echo the sentiment of the majority of our members that this Budget fails to deliver for Tasmanians at a time when they need it most.

Media release – Unions Tasmania, 25 May 2023

State Budget fails to address major challenges facing Tasmanian workers, and sets up more public sector cuts

Unions Tasmania has expressed deep disappointment that the Tasmanian State Budget delivered today fails to pick up on any of their recommendations to help put money back in workers pockets and deliver good secure jobs for Tasmanian workers.

Unions Tasmania made a range of recommendations to the Government leading up to this budget including building income and job security priorities into all economic development planning, legislating for wage theft, licensing of labour hire companies to prevent dodgy operators ripping off workers, and support for workers who are impacted by climate change. There was none of that in the Budget.

Not only that, but the Government is also unbelievably planning on cutting the public sector with a $300 million dollar ‘efficiency dividend’.

“This is an unimaginative budget that has no major reform, no real additional investment, and no real plans to tackle the huge challenges facing Tasmanians yet includes a nasty $300 million dollar cut to essential services,” said Unions Tasmania Secretary, Jessica Munday.

“It is completely staggering that the Government can even consider cutting $300 million from our public sector that is buckling under intense demand that it just cannot meet.”

“The Government says unemployment is so low that jobs are now looking for people. Well, I can say that people are still looking for secure jobs and a decent wage and they’re not seeing a State Government that is helping deliver them,” said Ms Munday.

“We are also facing a major crisis of safety in Tasmania’s workplaces including ballooning mental health injuries caused by work. The Budget includes no support for implementing industrial manslaughter laws and in fact the funding allocated to the safety regulator, WorkSafe Tasmania, is less next year than it is today.”

Media release – Australian Education Union Tasmania, 25 May 2023

State Budget a missed opportunity to lift learning for every child

The Tasmanian State Budget was a lesson in disappointment this Public Education Day, with no new steps to Lift Learning other than previously announced union-won measures in the new Tasmanian Teachers Agreement.

Australian Education Union Tasmania President David Genford said the Rockliff Government prettied-up its Education Budget spending, with already announced measures to hide its lack of investment.

“While it’s pleasing union-won Lifting Learning solutions have been budgeted for, Thursday’s Budget failed to provide a long-term plan to address the state’s education crisis,” he said,

“We need serious investment to get our schools and colleges on a path to where no student is left behind. But instead, our students are being let down by a Government unwilling to commit to their futures.”

Mr Genford said the Budget calls for $300m of efficiencies for departments to find.

“How do we expect to find trimmings when this Government has already reduced backline department staff to return to classrooms?” he said.

He said more was needed in the Budget to address Tasmania’s growing teacher attrition rate.

“We cannot afford to see another 271 educators walk away from the profession again this year,” he said.

“This Budget has done nothing to address this critical issue as we watch other states get proactive with their recruitment by offering significant incentives to address teacher shortages.

“Disappointingly, it’s Tasmania that now risks losing even more talented teachers to our mainland counterparts because the Rockliff Government has shown inaction on this crisis.”

He said immediate action was needed.

“This includes investing in professional development, reducing workload pressures, and providing competitive employment conditions and incentives to attract and retain teachers,” he said.

“We must ensure our education system is adequately funded and resourced, and that our educators are better valued and supported in their roles.

“It is disappointing that the only positive investment outcomes came from the need to close schools to show how serious this crisis is. Tasmania now needs a long-term plan that is budgeted to fix our teacher shortage.”

Media release – Greater Hobart Mayors, 26 May 2023

State Budget initiatives welcomed but further investment required

The Greater Hobart Mayors have acknowledged the Tasmanian Government’s commitments to several key initiatives in the 2023-24 State Budget.

Mayor Brendan Blomeley, Mayor Bec Thomas, Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds and Mayor Paula Wriedt said the Budget had funding for key projects supported by the Greater Hobart Strategic Partnership, including:

  • $13.5m to the Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor to continue planning and design work to active the corridor;
  • $20.8m in funding for the Targeting Congestion Package aimed at addressing urban congestion;
  • $28.2m to develop a common ticketing solution for all general access public transport; and
  • $6m for cycling infrastructure across the state.

The Budget also confirmed funding for several previously confirmed  projects including the Derwent Ferry service, Tasmanian Bridge upgrades, the Southern Outlet fifth lane and Macquarie/Davey St improvements.

While the Mayors welcomed a number of funding initiatives outlined in the Budget, they noted a stronger focus on transport infrastructure across Greater Hobart will be required into the future.

Quotes attributable to Mayor Brendan Blomeley (Clarence City Council)

“We welcome the Budget commitments to a number of important projects that will support Greater Hobart’s growth and the changing needs of our communities.

“We’re pleased to see confirmation of existing funding for the Derwent Ferry service.

“We now look forward to working closely with the State Government to expand the service to additional locations along the River Derwent, which is being supported by a $20 million investment by the Federal Government.”

Quotes attributable to Mayor Bec Thomas (Glenorchy City Council)

“We’re pleased to see a commitment being made to the Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor and welcome the Tasmanian Government’s funding.

“Clearly there’s a lot of work required to progress not only the transport solution, but to support urban renewal along the corridor including much-needed medium density housing.

“This project has been a key focus of our advocacy efforts as Councils and it’s now important that all levels of government work together to accelerate work as quickly as possible.

“We again reiterate our call for the Tasmanian Government to agree on timeframes and targets for progressing the NSTC, which will provide important clarity to the community, industry and other stakeholders.”

Quotes attributable to Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds (City of Hobart)

“We know that Greater Hobart’s public transport system will need much more investment to accommodate our growing population and reduce congestion on our road network.

“It’s also clear that a significant uplift in investment will be required in the years ahead to ensure our transport system meets the needs of Hobart as a thriving capital city.

“We’ll be undertaking further analysis to understand delivery timeframes and to determine new commitments as opposed to previously announced funding.”

Quotes attributable to Mayor Paula Wriedt (Kingborough Council)

“We welcome the Budget support for a number of new and existing projects across the Greater Hobart region.

“From a transport perspective, we are eager to see the State Government provide more dedicated support for active transport infrastructure – particularly across Greater Hobart – and we will continue to advocate for ongoing investment in this area moving forward.”

Brendan Blomeley is the Mayor of Clarence City Council, Bec Thomas is the Mayor of Glenorchy City Council, Anna Reynolds is the Lord Mayor of the City of Hobart and Paula Wriedt is the Mayor of Kingborough Council.

TASMANIAN TIMES: State Budget 2023-24