As part of a crackdown on wasteful spending to repair Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s budget disaster, a future Labor Government would abolish Associate Secretary positions within the state service.

Abolishing these positions will save approximately $8 million over the forward estimates, and will contribute to Labor’s comprehensive plan for budget repair which focuses on reining in wasteful spending.

It’s well known that this minority Liberal Government has a COVID hangover and has been unable to rein in wasteful and new spending. Any ongoing improvements to the state service since these positions were implemented are difficult to identify.

Targeted and thought-out reductions to wasteful spending are a far more effective way to improve the efficiency of the public service than the lazy and inefficient measures proposed by the government, such as blanket hiring freezes and vacancy controls.

When the Liberals took office in 2014 there was money in the bank. 11 years later and Tasmania is on its way to $10 billion in debt.

The three worst fiscal deficits in Tasmania’s history have occurred under Premier Rockliff, but instead of reining in his wasteful spending he wants to sell of Tasmania’s public assets to pay down his legacy record debt.

Josh Willie MP
Shadow Treasurer