Will Hodgman

A majority Hodgman Liberal Government will focus on providing Tasmanians with the essentials they expect and deserve – health, education and public safety - and we will do so by making cuts to luxuries we now cannot afford.

Because Labor and the Greens have wrecked the budget, delivering frontline services and supporting frontline jobs must always be our top priorities. 

The Ten Days on the Island Festival costs taxpayers $1.25 million each year. In the current climate, Tasmania cannot afford it.

Funding in future for Ten Days on the Island will be halved in the Liberal Alternative Budget. Next year’s festival will be the last under the current arrangement.

While we strongly support the arts, this Festival has now been running for over a decade, and we believe that it’s time it became more self-sustaining.

I am confident it could continue into the future, but less dependent on government funds.

Contrary to media reports, I do not have any issues with any previous events at the Ten Days on the Island Festival.

The real issue is that Labor and the Greens have wrecked the Budget and we need to prioritise the frontline over luxuries. We can't continue to fund Ten Days to the same level that we have in the past.

My challenge to Lara Giddings in Thursday’s budget is for her to follow our lead, and put frontline services and jobs first.

Agriculture is one of the Five Pillars of Tasmania’s Future economy.

Tasmania has been cut adrift by the Federal and State Labor Governments in tonight’s budget.

Hobart voters have clearly sent a message to Lara Giddings and Nick McKim that they've had enough of their unstable, self-interested, and job-destroying minority government experiment.

I was pleased to meet with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott today and discuss a range of issues around Tasmania's future, particularly ways to re-boot our economy.

Premier Lara Giddings needs to finally act against Green cabinet minister Nick McKim following his latest anti-development tirade.

Tony Abbott is wrong to suggest that the Government should consider distributing the GST on a per-capita basis, and I have told him so.

The Liberals believe that tourism is one of the pillars of Tasmania’s future economy.

Two months ago the Premier announced with great fanfare that she would lead a delegation to meet Prime Minister Gillard to rescue Tasmania’s vital manufacturing sector, but two months later it still hasn't happened.

If Tasmania is to become more self-reliant, as is our vision, then it is essential that Hydro remains in public hands.

This latest rant is further evidence of a Premier desperately trying to divert attention from the fact that her Green-Labor government has driven Tasmania into recession and delivered the highest unemployment rate in nearly a decade.

Over recent weeks we’ve had confirmation that the bleeding in our health system is getting worse, yet there’s another $127 million of cuts to health budgeted for next year.

It’s clear that Tasmanians are hurting from the spiralling cost of living.  Sadly, it’s also clear that the Green-Labor Government has no idea how to tackle the problem.

Coming on top of voting to increase the size of Parliament, Mr McKim’s latest threat to try and change Tasmania’s constitution to suit his own political self-interest ahead of the budget smacks of political desperation.

We are not going to give the Premier the get-out-of-jail-free card that she wants for her upcoming budget.