Premier Rockliff and Treasurer Barnett have completely lost control of Tasmania’s budget and it’s clear that they have no plan to get our finances back on track.

The Liberals’ horror September budget was just the tip of the iceberg as the Revised Estimates Report shows that Tasmania’s finances have deteriorated even further in the last five months.

In his first mini-budget, Treasurer Barnett has managed to blow out the deficit by more than half a billion dollars and add another billion dollars to the state’s debt.

Net debt is now forecast to reach $9.6 billion over the forward estimates which means it’s going to cost Tasmanians $1.5 billion just to service the Liberals’ credit card.

Make no mistake, there is no pathway to surplus or debt reduction to be seen. In fact, for every additional dollar of new revenue this year, the Government has spent ten dollars.

Despite two negative credit outlook downgrades, countless economic reports and rock-bottom business confidence, the Liberals still don’t get it.

Premier Rockliff’s minority government lost the confidence of the business community with its handling of the Spirits fiasco, which became a far bigger mess than it needed to be because no one admitted there was a problem.

It’s clear that Tasmania is headed towards budget oblivion unless the Liberals acknowledge the problem and change course.

Josh Willie MP
Shadow Treasurer