Under my leadership, Tasmanian Labor stands for jobs. That is why we have been relentless in our pursuit of Jeremy Rockliff’s mismanagement of TT-Line and TasPorts over the ferries fiasco.
The Premier has effectively copy and pasted Labor’s proposed GBE governance reforms we announced a month ago and I welcome that.
But these reforms need to happen immediately and the Premier should commit to them being legislated before the end of the year. They should not be left to sit with the more dubious and improbable distractions in the rest of the document.
We have a fleet of Government businesses which are overloaded with debt, performing poorly and not focussed on growing Tasmania’s economy. These boards need to listen to the business community, look after their workers and act in the best interests of the state.
The remaining components of today’s announcement range from dubious, risky to terrible ideas.
There are serious risks with a merger of GBEs for the tourism and transport sectors in particular. And yet again, the Liberals have put privatisation on the agenda, with the report threatening to privatise all GBEs, including our Hydro. I can categorically state that Tasmanian Labor will not support this shocking privatisation agenda, and if needed, we will fight the Liberals on this, just as we did in 1998.
Labor’s plan to get our GBEs back on track includes:
- Modernise the legislative framework for our government businesses, by replacing the 30 year old Government Business Enterprises Act 1995 with a new Tasmanian Government Business Constitution Act. This would include a requirement for quarterly reporting to Parliament to enhance accountability and new reporting requirements, including board performance reviews.
- Make it law that our government businesses are acting in the best long-term interests of Tasmania, not just their own self-interest, by requiring them to always consider the broader Tasmanian economy in their decision making. We will establish this requirement in legislation as charters and letters of expectation have proven ineffective. This will also have direct benefits for local businesses competing in procurement processes.
- Reduce the confusion caused by the Corporations Act, by reviewing the government business portfolio to ensure they are appropriately classified as GBEs or SOCs, with a view to optimising their governance models.
- Prevent the failures we've seen on Michael Ferguson's watch occurring again, by requiring that at all times there are two separate shareholder ministers for all government businesses.
- Bring in fresh ideas and new leadership, by setting a two term limit for board appointments, a strict rule that people cannot serve on more than two government boards at once, and a policy preference that people will not serve on more than one wherever possible.
Dean Winter MP
Labor Leader
Shadow Minister for Tourism & Hospitality
