Media release – Tas Liberals, 10 March 2024
Liberals Announce Community Commitments
Community groups, councils and sporting organisations will be supported with commitments to progress important local initiatives under a re-elected majority Liberal Government’s 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future.
The commitments will encourage greater community engagement and drive job opportunities, especially in regional areas.
Proponents have engaged with Liberal candidates to support their community projects. Each commitment has undergone a rigorous assessment.
All funding will be subject to approval by both houses of State Parliament.
The approach stands in stark contrast to the Labor party who are making funding commitments via secret correspondence.
Only a re-elected majority Liberal Government will deliver for local communities through its 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future.
Details of the successful applications can be found here.
Media release – Jeremy Rockliff, Premier, Minister for State Development, Trade and the Antarctic, Minister for Tourism and Hospitality, Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, Member for Braddon, 10 March 2024
A Strong Plan To Support Our Multicultural Communities
A re-elected majority Liberal Government will continue to support multicultural communities across Tasmania.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said that Tasmania was a successful multicultural community with thousands of people who have migrated from countries across the world to call Tasmania home.
“Tasmania is a richer community because of our diverse community. We will continue to support our multicultural communities, including prioritising the essential services Tasmania needs, developing stronger communities and enhancing our regions.
“As part of our 2030 Strong Plan to support multicultural communities, we will continue to back the popular Moonah Multicultural Hub which supports thousands of migrants each year, and supports our iconic multicultural events.”
In a continued show of support, a re-elected majority Liberal Government will:
- Support the ongoing work of the popular Moonah Multicultural Hub through $150,000 over two years;
- Support refugees and migrants into employment through the Safe Haven Hub Multicultural Employment Services;
- Provide an uplift in funding to $175,000 per annum to the peak body, the Multicultural Council of Tasmania;
- Support more than 120 small businesses through a new $400,000 grant program for multicultural small business growth, to help build capability and new skills;
- Celebrate our diverse communities through a new $80,000 small Multicultural Community Festival Grants Program that brings people together;
- Reduce racism in our communities through a $500,000 program that supports social connection and sense of belonging for migrant and refugee people and communities; and
- Provide $50,000 for outreach to the north-west through the Migrant Resource Centre Northern Tasmania.
Census figures show that 15 per cent of Tasmanians were born overseas and after English, the most common languages spoken in the state are Mandarin, Nepali.
Cost: $1.32 million over four years.
Media release – Rosalie Woodruff MP, Greens Leader, 10 March 2024
Liberals’ Vote Buying Reaches Dodgy New Depths
The Tasmanian Liberals have outdone themselves once again when it comes to the secretive and corrupted use of public money.
Having faced criticism from the Integrity Commission for their 2018 vote-buying exercise, in 2021 the Liberals went even further with their sports rorts. They nearly got away with it, before the Greens and media exposed them.
Now it’s clear the Liberals have perfected the fine art of electoral bribery, and 2024’s version is even dodgier than before.
It is completely unacceptable for an unelected party apparatchik – who is not even running for election – to announce nearly $19 million in grants without an independent, merits-based and open process. The announcement by a non-candidate is clearly designed to protect candidates from later scrutiny over any conflicts of interest they may hold with groups.
The Liberals’ approach to community organisations is simple: starve them of the money they need between elections, then use election times as a vehicle for vote-buying.
There are hundreds of community groups crying out for support – and that’s exactly why Tasmania needs an open, merits-based process to distribute precious public money. So many organisations would desperately want a slice of the Liberals’ election promises, but hsve been cut out because they aren’t close enough to Liberal MPs or their candidates.
The Greens strongly support investment in local groups, but this should be done transparently, fairly, and without politicians getting involved. That’s why we’ve previously announced our commitment to increase the annual investment in the Tasmanian Community Fund – so those community organisations that need it most get funding first.
Media release – Dean Winter MP, 11 March 2024
Shameless Liberals’ desperate deflection attempt
The Liberals’ attempts to deflect from their integrity shortcomings are shameless and desperate.
After the last state election, the Liberals used lawyers to stop the Integrity Commission from thoroughly investigating their dodgy grant program.
Yesterday, the Liberals had an unelected, paid member of the party announce how they intended to spend taxpayer money.
Despite what they seem to think, the public purse is not Liberal party money. To have their Campaign Director announce the commitments was entirely inappropriate, and raises questions including why no elected representative was willing to put their name to it.
This follows the circulation of a form given out to organisations by candidates, despite it being clearly marked not to do so.
We invited submissions from Local Government, sporting and community organisations last year and have been working with them to identify priorities – unlike the Liberals, whose announcements have caught many councils by surprise.
These projects have been assessed against policy guidelines, which is exactly what the Integrity Commission recommended, and will be made public before the election.
