Media release – Guy Barnett, Treasurer, 10 February 2025
Tasmanian Government’s response to the Eslake Report
The Tasmanian Government has released its response to the Independent Review of the State’s Finances.
Treasurer, Guy Barnett, said the Government is committed to strengthening the fiscal position of the State.
“The Independent Review was wide-ranging and informative, and the Tasmanian Government thanks Mr Eslake for his significant contribution,” the Treasurer said
“It is the Government’s view in many ways the recommendations in the Independent Review are consistent with the Government’s Fiscal Strategy.
“The Government’s response is structured into four sections which address the key themes of the recommendations of the Independent Review – namely, Fiscal Strategy and Targets, Budget Matters, New Taxes, Agency Resourcing and Reporting
“We will continue our commitment to Tasmanian businesses and households of no new or increased taxes.
“It is clear that Tasmania is not immune to the challenges associated with increased demand on health and hospitals and this is having a material impact on Tasmania’s fiscal position, but we recognise that these impacts are not unique to Tasmania.
“We are continuing to deliver our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future and will deliver a Net Operating Surplus by 2029-30.”
Media release – Vica Bayley MP, Greens Treasury and Finance Spokesperson, 10 February 2024
Liberals’ delusion demonstrates skewed budget priorities
The Liberals’ response to Saul Eslake’s independent review into the state’s finances is either a shocking exercise in delusion or an outright deception. It profoundly misrepresents the Liberal Government’s current budget mismanagement as somehow consistent with Mr Eslake’s recommendations, while outright rejecting them and providing no credible path back to surplus.
While claiming ‘consistency’ with Mr Eslake’s recommendations, the Liberals dismiss his suggestions on revenue generation, infrastructure spend management and the futility of budget cuts to critical services via ‘efficiency dividends.’ Other recommendations remain completely unaddressed, like the establishment of a Parliamentary Budget Office.
Meanwhile, the Liberal’s blunder along with a billion dollar stadium that Tasmanians can’t afford, don’t want and is making a blown budget worse.
Eslake’s report should have been a wake-up call for the Liberal Government that the budget needs more sustainable management. But once again, all we’ve got from the Liberals is more deception, rhetoric and spin. It’s unconscionable.
The mid-year budget estimates, released alongside their response to Mr Eslake’s review, again demonstrates that the Liberals spending priorities are all wrong. While the Liberals are spending a billion dollars on a stadium and giving big corporations a free ride, the state’s debt is skyrocketing.
Whilst the level of debt is worrying, there are obvious ways out of this mess. The Liberals need to get their priorities straight.
It’s time the Liberals finally made the big mining, building and gambling companies pay their fair share. While Tasmania’s health, education and housing sectors remain underfunded, we simply can’t afford a billion-dollar stadium.
Media release – Craig Garland MP, 10 February 2025
Liberal Failure to Consider Eslake Recommendations will hurt Tasmanians
The Liberal minority government needs to remember its precarious position when it comes to maintaining executive government and rolling out this year’s budget.
Last year, I put the government on notice with their debt-ridden budget projections, following the release of their 2024-25 state budget. I stopped short of voting against the budget then, but I am still waiting to find reason to vote for the budget this year, after Economist, Saul Eslake’s Independent review into the state’s finances was largely ignored.
The much-criticised deal between then Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) members and the Liberal Party, which resulted in several significant outcomes including Mr Eslake’s independent review, was intended to provide the Liberal government with a mirror to take a long hard look at what they have done to Tasmania’s finances.
Instead of taking this review seriously, they have now released a half-baked response to the review, and according to Mr Eslake himself, the Government “appears to have rejected every recommendation in my report.”
In my view, this is simply not good enough for Tasmania. It opens the state to significant long-term economic issues, leaving us vulnerable to even worse multinational-corporate exploitation.
Mr Eslake also detailed that the Government response shows nothing but a “resolute refusal to give any consideration as to how … spending should be paid for, other than with borrowed money.”
He also added that “the consequences of that unwillingness to consider how spending should be paid for is evident in the deterioration in the Forward Estimates detailed in the Revised Estimates Report released today. It shows that the Government hasn’t taken a single decision designed to put Tasmania’s finances on a more stable trajectory since last year’s Budget.”
To summarise the government’s response in five words: ‘Thanks Saul, but no thanks.”
If the Liberal minority government want stronger support for this year’s budget, they need to pull their finger out and make some serious changes, not rubbish the ideas of a report they agreed to commission to form government.
Media release – Josh Willie MP, Shadow Treasurer, 8 February 2025
Time for Treasurer to come clean on mythical pathway to surplus
With the Revised Estimates Report, or mini-budget, set to be published next week, Treasurer Guy Barnett has an opportunity to come good on his word and reveal his mythical “pathway” to surplus.
Last year, in response to Labor’s concerns about the direction of the budget, the Treasurer mechanically repeated in Parliament and in the media that he had a “pathway to surplus”, but he has failed to prove that it exists.
Last month, he told the media that the Government’s “pathway to surplus” would be revealed in the Revised Estimates Report.
When the RER is published next week, Treasurer Barnett needs to put his money where his mouth is and show Tasmanians a pathway to a cash surplus to stop the spiralling debt or just admit that the Liberals have no plan to turn Tasmania’s disastrous finances around.
With wannabe Treasurer Felix Ellis publicly contradicting Mr Barnett’s fiscal approach, the pressure is ramping up on the Treasurer to demonstrate that he is up to the job.
