 Treasurer’s spending growth figures just don’t add up
 Liberals plotting another round of job and service cuts
 Gutwein must explain how he will cut expenses without axing public sector
Treasurer Peter Gutwein’s deeply dishonest budget update released this week has exposed the Hodgman Government’s underhanded plot to launch a fresh round of cuts to frontline workers and services as Tasmania heads toward the next state election.
Shadow Treasurer Scott Bacon said Mr Gutwein needed to explain why his new estimates around projected expenditure by government – which includes public sector salaries – does not add up and he expects Tasmanians to believe he will spend less but purchase more in the next year.
“Mr Gutwein was warned by international ratings agency Moody’s at the time of the release of his last budget in May that to achieve his targets, he would need to slash jobs,” Mr Bacon said.
“He arrogantly ignored that warning.
“Now his latest revised estimates report released this week reveals that despite his claim that the government’s spending growth rate would sit at 1.3 per cent in future years, it actually increased by 5.5 per cent over 2015-16 and will fall into negative territory of 1.5 per cent in the coming year, followed by minor increases of 1.1 per cent and 0.3 in the following years.
“If that doesn’t mean more public sector job cuts from the Treasurer who has already axed 1,200 workers, then what does it mean?
“Every Tasmanian who has to balance the household budget knows that it’s impossible to cut your expenses without buying less and in Mr Gutwein’s case it means paying fewer staff to deliver essential services.
“The Treasurer wants people to believe that he can achieve the impossible when in reality he is simply going to revert to what he does best – cutting services.
“Our valued and hard-working public sector workers in Tasmania’s hospitals and class rooms, in law and order and other critical areas of the public sector have every right to be concerned and every right to question this dishonest budget.
“This is a Treasurer who has presided over a determined program to axe workers and services and prop up his dishonest budget by ripping $80 million from TT Line.
“This is a Treasurer who has failed to announce, launch or build a single major infrastructure project for Tasmania since he came to office, highlighted by his failure to invest in water and sewage.
“This is a Treasurer who just yesterday saw another 300 full-time jobs disappear from Tasmania in just a month – adding to the 4,500 full-time jobs lost since last April – and who now seems to be preparing to shed more.”
Scott Bacon MP Shadow Treasurer