Will Hodgman

The Premier’s statement today that he won’t support our motion for a Commission of Inquiry into Tasmania’s child protection system because of the cost is extremely disappointing.

When it comes to protecting our children, cost should be the last thing on the Premier’s mind.

Will Hodgman said:
It has been Liberal policy for some time to increase the level of integrity and transparency regarding financial reporting, both for the state budget and also for our taxpayer-owned companies.

Today’s announcement by the Tasmanian Greens that they won’t support our move for a Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection is very disappointing.

Their move instead for a watered-down Parliamentary Inquiry into the issue has all the hallmarks of another stitch-up deal between the Greens and their Labor masters.

Will Hodgman said:
The economic uncertainty created by the Labor-Green Government is clearly on show in the latest TCCI Tasmanian Survey of Business Expectations.

The headline Composite Business Barometer remains below 50, indicating that businesses are expecting business conditions to contract heading into the last quarter of this year, just when they should be strengthening.

This week in Parliament, the Liberals will move to establish a Commission of Inquiry into child protection in Tasmania.

We know there has been a systemic failure in government that has exposed some of our most vulnerable children.

Today’s report from the Children’s Commissioner confirms that under Minister Lin Thorp, Tasmania’s child protection system has suffered terrible, systemic failures.

Minister Thorp has been responsible for child protection for nearly two years and has been unable to address this systemic failure.

As Shadow Tourism Minister and Leader of the Opposition, tomorrow I will hold my first tourism forum at Swansea, on Tasmania’s East Coast, to hear concerns and ideas about the future of the Tasmanian tourism industry.

The aim of the forums will be to hear first-hand the concerns of many tourism operators and find real solutions to the challenges facing the state’s tourism industry.

It’s been four and a half years since former Premier Paul Lennon announced plans to redevelop the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and all Labor has managed is a $10 million plan without the financial commitment to realise it.

Since 2006, the project has blown out more than six times the original $30 million commitment, with the state seemingly relying on private and federal funds to move forward.

The past two weeks of State Parliament has shown the Greens to be nothing more than Labor’s lap-dogs who do tricks for treats.

Prior to this parliamentary session, I said that it would be an opportunity for the Greens to demonstrate that they are serious about their claims of this being a “power sharing” parliament.

Attorney-General Lara Giddings is crab-walking towards establishing a review of the law surrounding sex offences with minors in Tasmania.

This welcome back-down follows pressure from the State Liberals, and is a win for children, the community, and for common sense.

The State Government has its head in the sand about the urgent need to review laws surrounding child sex offences.

Following confirmation that no more charges will be laid, the Government could and should act on widespread community concerns that Tasmania’s laws are not adequately protecting children from sexual abuse.

While Tasmanians are suffering massive cost of living price rises, the Labor-Green Government is doing nothing – except delivering on David Bartlett’s pre-election promise that a deal with the Greens would lead to inertia and inaction in government.

Rather than taking action to address the problems facing everyday Tasmanians, Labor and the Greens are putting their own interests first, and refusing to act for fear of upsetting each other and fracturing their fragile alliance.

The Minister for Human Services, Nick McKim, must fully disclose the details surrounding the employment and recent departure of his Head of Office, Ronan Lee.

It is not good enough for Mr McKim, who has made a career preaching for transparency in government, to evade answering questions.

Today I announce that as Shadow Tourism Minister and Leader of the Opposition I will hold a series of tourism forums that we will hold right across the state, in a bid to hear first-hand operators’ concerns, and find real solutions to the growing problems facing the state’s small tourism operators with stalling tourism numbers.

The first forum will be on the state’s East Coast in the first week of October.

After the Energy Minister Bryan Green dodged the question this morning, Aurora Energy has revealed that the cost of its delayed Oracle Customer Care and Billing System has blown-out to $65 million, four times the amount it was supposed to cost.

Despite the project running approximately two years late, and the Economic Regulator suggesting that the costs of the system implementation are taken into account in setting power prices, Mr Green didn’t know what the overall cost to Tasmania is.