Jeremy Rockliff has shown he is completely oblivious to interstate examples of privatisation leading to increased costs for users as he blindly continues his planned fire-sale of state owned assets to prop up his busted budget.

When the South Australian Liberals privatised their state’s public energy assets under a long term lease, prices skyrocketed.

Imposing South Australian power prices here in Tasmania would see the average household power bill increase by more than $1,100. For small business, bills would increase more than $4,000.

But the Premier couldn’t front up and explain why Tasmanians’ will have to see their power bills skyrocket because he’s trashed Tasmania’s finances.

He couldn’t explain why he wants to make Tasmanians pay twice as much for car registrations either.

And he couldn’t explain why he wanted to again take Tasmanians down the path of the costly disaster when the Liberals sold TasRail in 1997, when the private company that bought it stripped the assets and demanded a $100 million annual subsidy.

Labor does not support privatisation. This short-term sugar hit will rob future generations of the revenue we need to pay for our schools and hospitals. Because once these assets are gone, they are gone forever

Jeremy Rockliff and the Liberals have proven they can’t manage money, and the Premier has confirmed that it’s Tasmanians who will have to pay the price.

Dean Winter MP
Labor Leader