Premier Rockliff can’t manage money, and his lazy, blanket hiring freeze across the public service is an admission that his budget mismanagement has Tasmania on a perilous trajectory.

Since announcing unelected bureaucrats would be responsible for deciding which positions to cut and which to keep, Premier Rockliff has dodged numerous questions as to which positions are exempt, and which are not.

Will the Premier apply the policy to his own ballooning media office of spin doctors?

The number of Liberal media advisers has jumped from 5 to 16 since 2016, and their taxpayer funded wages have hit $2 million per year.

That’s 50 per cent more media advisers than the Prime Minister’s office, who have to engage with every media outlet in the country.

I’d bet nearly all Tasmanians would rather hire teachers, nurses, or police officers before yet another spin doctor for the Premier.

Between the Spirits fiasco, budget crisis and desperate campaign to sell-off Tasmania’s assets the Premier has a lot of problems on his hands. But having more than a cricket team full of spinners to do his dirty work is way over the top, and emblematic of the waste which has seen the Liberals trash Tasmania’s budget over 11 years.

Josh Willie MP
Shadow Treasurer