The Tasmanian Greens condemn the budget that’s been handed down by Eric Abetz with the full support of Jeremy Rockliff.
After 12 years of the Liberals running the State into debt, there is no doubt there is a need for urgent action. But why should it be everyday Tasmanians who pay the heavy price?
Eric Abetz had options. He could have spared Tasmanians these sweeping cuts by making big corporations pay their fair share and stopping the stadium. Instead, he chose pain for people who are already struggling.
This Treasurer squandered a generational opportunity. Faced with this budget crisis, he could have listened to calls from Treasury and economists to increase revenue. The Treasurer knew he had majority Parliamentary support for revenue-raising measures, but shamefully he still wouldn’t act.
Unfortunately, Eric Abetz is not a responsible Treasurer. He’s a right wing, ‘small government’ hard-liner, who has spent a career chasing his dream of cutting services.
In these dire circumstances, the fact the Liberals and Labor are still pushing ahead with building a stadium that will cost more than $2 billion is the single most cold-hearted and cruel budget decision in decades. It’s like buying a fancy car when you can’t feed your kids.
There is no doubt the Liberals’ plan will result in savage cuts and worse services, at a time when Tasmanians need them more than ever. But the bottom line they have written into in the budget papers is a fantasy.
Even with the axe in Eric Abetz’s hands, there is still no way to achieve the savings he’s pretended can be delivered in this budget. We’ll see cut after brutal cut delivered in services, but still next year the budget will be in terrible shape because this Treasurer won’t do what’s really required.
The truth is there is only one realistic path to repairing the budget and delivering the services Tasmanians need. That is to scrap the stadium, make big corporations pay their fair share, and stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the Liberals’ warped priorities.
