Will Hodgman

This year’s Liberal Alternative Budget provides Tasmanians with hope and gives them reason to be optimistic about our future. 

Our Roadmap to Recovery and Growth identifies over $480 million in savings and revenue which will be utilised to grow the economy, create jobs and deliver essential services Tasmanians deserve.

• Growing the Economy and Creating Jobs

The Roadmap to Recovery and Growth puts Tasmania onto a pathway to growth and job creation by investing in key areas of the economy like housing and construction, agriculture, education and tourism. 

We will create a new Department of State Growth by merging the Department of Economic Development with the Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources. This new more efficient department will have oversight over all the key economic drivers in Tasmania.

The Liberals will refocus the state service into growing the economy with an Office of the Co-ordinator General to aggressively seek and attract much needed investment.

We will reinstate the Tasmanian Trainee and Apprenticeship Incentive scheme, and hand back the carbon tax which will generate an extra $157 million of economic activity and make Tasmania the only place in the country where small business doesn’t have to pay the carbon tax.

Our initiatives to stimulate the housing sector will bring forward up to $100 million in economic activity in 2012-13. 

• Easing Cost of Living Pressures

The rising cost of living is a burden on Tasmanians and a handbrake on our economy. 

The Liberals will reduce power bills even further by handing back the unfair carbon tax on small business and household power bills.  We will cut the cost of car registration and we will make it $7000 cheaper to buy your first home.

• Delivering the Essentials

The Liberals believe that essential services should be a priority.  We have outlined nearly half a billion dollars of savings and revenue to other areas of Government spending.  This money will be better spent growing the economy and delivering the essentials, like frontline health, education and public safety services.

We will invest $76 million to restore elective surgery – that’s 15,000 extra operations. 

• Providing Fiscal Responsibility

The Liberals will re-prioritise non-essential spending, get rid of luxuries we can no longer afford, and maintain our focus on a smaller and more efficient public service.

We remain committed to the overall reduction in public sector positions of 1700 FTEs.

We will also cut back on luxuries Tasmania cannot afford.

With Tasmania driven down into net debt, now more than ever we need to cut our cloth to suit the times.

The Liberals Roadmap to Recovery and Growth offer Tasmanians hope. It shows we are prepared to make the tough decisions to get Tasmania’s economy back on track, while retaining a commitment to delivering essential services and easing the cost of living.