Will Hodgman

Two new reports on the state of Tasmania’s economy again highlight the need for policies to grow the Tasmanian economy – policies which only a majority Liberal Government can deliver, because unlike Labor, we aren’t beholden to the Greens.

The Deloitte Access Economic report notes that “Tasmania is in trouble” with forestry, manufacturing and tourism all struggling; while Comsec’s latest State of the State report notes that Tasmania “under-performs” on “overall economic growth”, with the second weakest economic growth rate of all states and territories.

 Unlike Comsec, we don’t regard having the highest unemployment rate in the country as being somehow good news, particularly given the loss of 2000 full time jobs in the past year.

 The way to grow the economy and to grow jobs is to put up the open for business sign, such as by introducing a single state-wide planning scheme, and extending our high schools to year 12 to create a job-ready generation; and by supporting our cornerstone industries such as mining and forestry – not shutting them down.