Ms BADGER (Lyons) – Honourable Speaker, well, 11 years since the Liberals took office and our budget problems have grown significantly. There is no foundation now to blame past governments; this historical budget hole is solely the Liberals’ legacy. This budget comes at a time when:
- Poverty in Tasmania has risen 16 per cent in the past two years;
- Tasmania still has the lowest literacy and numeracy rates;
- Tasmania has the lowest digital literacy and connectivity rates in the nation; and
- Appropriate, safe housing is out of reach for many.
This budget is a political choice to put corporate profits and interests ahead of people and the planet. Meaningful budget repair has been kicked down the pothole‑riddled road. This has been a missed opportunity here to, for example, raise mining royalties 40 per cent so Tasmania is in line with other states around the country. There have been a number of people, including economist Saul Eslake, who argue that the government should make the multi‑billion‑dollar, multinational companies pay royalties. We’re in a position now where we should be charging the salmon companies, because right now, we are not getting anything from letting them effectively ruin our waterways. Nothing. They profit while our waterways choke, and when the waterways become too toxic for them to farm their salmon, they will leave and we will be the ones left to clean up their mess. When that day comes, we will look back and wonder why we didn’t have the courage to charge them while we still had something left to protect.
This budget is almost as much as a fantasy as the historical fictional piece that was the Barnett budget. This budget, which already sets out record debt, still does not include the inevitable future bailout of TT‑Line, the increase in Estimates for transmission lines constructions which will need to be applied to the North West Transmission line, and the acquisition for ‘corridors’. There’s the project doubling of costs for pumped hydro at Cethana, ageing infrastructure, such as the Edgar Dam, which has to be maintained by Hydro Tasmania, now also in strife. The costs of strengthening have gone from $15 million to $35 million and the project still isn’t done. To come is Scotts Peak Dam. That cost was $50 million, it’s now up to $99 million and the planning stage isn’t complete.
We are being sold the stadium at Macquarie Point as generational equity, but what about generational equality? What about not burdening future Tasmanians with a stadium that polls show the majority of Tasmanians today don’t even want, and instead invest in setting future Tasmanians up with world‑class education, a healthy environment, access to healthcare as it’s needed, affordable housing, training, and well‑paid jobs? Instead, we’re seeing record numbers of young people leave. No, they’re not leaving because they want to live near a roofed stadium, they’re going to find education, affordable housing, and careers ‑ opportunities that should have been afforded to them right here in Tasmania.
In Primary Industries, it is imperative that we upscale investment into biosecurity, and I want to congratulate the biosecurity workers on the mop‑top virus. As we’re dealing with an outbreak such as that, and we have the inevitable arrival of bird flu to come as well, where is the resourcing for everything else?
We need to see invasive species under control. They’re already costing our primary producers and our farmers too much and they’re destroying the natural values of our parks and the Wilderness World Heritage Area. Foxglove has rightfully been declared a listed weed now, but where’s the extra management resourcing? Fallow deer populations are exponentially increasing, but the funding hasn’t been matched to that growth rate. Rainbow lorikeets need controlling, and just today a volunteer working on that program was awarded a biosecurity award from the minister, but where’s the state funding to actually support them? We can’t rely exclusively on volunteers to deal with our invasive species issue. It is a state issue. That includes recreational hunters with deer, which I note is totally redundant ‑ it’s a totally redundant move in peri‑urban areas. We must invest to ensure Tasmania’s environmentally intact and productive future is for all. We should see investment to upscale invasives eradication in places like Bruny Island. That could be an absolute test case in biosecurity areas. It can be deer‑free, cat‑free and weed‑free.
Tasmania’s celebrated farm gate value, its paddock-to-plate reputation, relies on good biosecurity, and the affordability for small producers. I want to note the new regulation changes, which are national, are raising great concern for market growers and roadside stall holders. For a government that absolutely loves cutting a bit of red and green tape, overcoming these regulations shouldn’t be a hassle, right? You can have a fair tiered system that ensures the state’s national compliance for branding reliability but does not make for unrealistic administrational costs for small operators.
Water is our lifeline and the 2024 State of the Environment report was clear on the need for water quality monitoring, and for annual reports on river health as we see our waterways’ health decline. Tasmania is past due for statutory water management plans and water catchment authorities to oversee those plans. I note that there is now just $444,000 for the Rural Water Use Strategy, and then nothing else in the forward Estimates. On a drying planet with growing demand, managing our water is fast becoming more than essential. I note that we don’t have the environmental flow reports for Marinus Link. Under Basslink, preparation of a huge amount of work was done to assess rivers’ health with the altered water flow rates for power generation under projected demand scenarios. It is lazy and poor project management that this crucial work has been neglected before the decisions on Marinus were pushed through.
What about ecosystem restoration funding? What about repairing what’s already been degraded? Ecosystem restoration in this state, and indeed in this nation, is our next biggest industry. To restore degraded landscapes, create meaningful employment with physical and mental health benefits – it can be a transitional employment pathway as we exit extractive, archaic industries that are contributing to the climate crisis, into a restorative, regenerative future.
In our parks, we welcome that the fanciful Cradle cableway has gone. That’s a project that went from $60 million to $190 million to $225 million. See, inflation ‑ it’s a thing with projects. What’s going to happen with the Tyndall proposal? Maintaining the $40 million price tag from 2021, after it had already doubled from $20 million previous to that, is completely misleading. Where is the cost coming for that extra funding? It’s not in the Budget. Is it coming from the Parks budget?
It’s the same with the Freycinet gateway. I note the Parks proposal is not supported by the community and that there is a better vision from the community themselves that is going to be launched soon. It’s a better vision for the future of Freycinet that’s a win‑win‑win for locals, for business, and for our beloved national park. It’s expected that it will be not only cheaper to produce, but more ecologically friendly. Most importantly, it will actually have a social licence. It will also be consistent with the Freycinet management plan. Again, when governments ignorantly fail to listen and hear the community, the community step up and find even better solutions.
Statistically, the number of people who are coming to this state for nature‑based tourism experiences is still steadily dominating the market as a key drawcard, so where is the funding for additional rangers to look after our parks and maintain our beloved walking tracks? This government should be investing in protecting presently under‑protected areas of great value, and proclaiming Takayna as a National Park as part of the Wilderness World Heritage Area. It will bring tourism and economic value to the regional communities in the west and north‑west. The same can be said of the Tyndall Range and the Spero‑Wanderer Wilderness for the west.
I note the abundance of new walking opportunities for all abilities that could be invested in in these areas, to make our wild places truly equitably accessible for everybody. Our tourism businesses are already using Tasmania’s globally significant dark skies to leverage and brand their products; but the state will lose our brand credibility to other dark sky destinations who have protected their night sky environment through dark sky accreditation. If we continue to neglect ours, we will lose that market advantage. The Southwest Sky Country international dark sky sanctuary is one signature away. Just sign it. Most of the groundwork has already been done, again by volunteers in lieu of Parks being resourced to do it.
Expanding protected areas was a State of the Environment Report recommendation for biodiversity and climate safeguarding. It’s a win-win-win; in addition to the environment, for the economy and for social equality for all Tasmanians and people around the world who come here.
I note that still the work to be able to declare Aboriginal protected areas in Tasmania has not been done, and that is a great shame.
As has already been stated, women are absent from the budget. This must be reversed in May. We must see the women’s budget statement returned. Perhaps in that is the place where we so desperately need a clear breakdown of investment into the four principal pillars of the Family Violence Action Plan.
I note in the annual report, family violence response by police had escalated by 30 per cent in the past two years. These are difficult statistics to quantify what’s behind it. Is there just a general increase that police have been called to incidents from people who are seeing it, from neighbours? Or are more women feeling supported and being able to call for help? Either way, over 6400 responses is far too high for Tasmania in 2025. That is an average of 17.5 domestic violence incident responses every single day.
Yesterday, in his speech, the Premier said that no Tasmanian would be left behind. Premier, what about the Tasmanian women and children who are moving interstate because they cannot be kept safe here, because our systems are not only failing them but there is systemic abuse being used?
Where is the Family Violence Act 2004 review that was in your 2030 Strong Plan? The 100‑day plan, then the 200‑day plan and then the 300‑day plan? It’s still not here.
Funding for the North West Arch centre is good to see. I was privileged to tour the Southern Arch Centre recently, and it was fantastically insightful to see how the sector intertwines with police to create supporting systems that are working well. While there have been growth issues to begin with ‑ of course there would be ‑ they are finding ways to collaboratively overcome them. Wouldn’t it be great to see this model used as a blueprint for a similar, albeit it would need to be much bigger, family and domestic violence centres in the not‑too‑distant future?
The electronic rostering for police that’s bringing Tas Police into the modern world is, of course, very welcome, but diversionary programs for the prevention of crime have not seen the investment needed. There is funding for tough-on-crime policy rather than prevention and education, which research demonstrates is what works. We know the tough-on-crime response doesn’t work. It’s a political tactic that does nothing to address the long‑term root cause of the problem. It’s like the principles underpinning the commission of inquiry have been totally lost and forgotten on this government.
There is further investment directed into the Family Violence Offender Intervention Program, but last year the program saw 68 commencements and just 26 completions. By comparison, in the Sober Driving Program 49 people commenced that and 48 completed it. Where is it going wrong? There was a continued increase in the breaches of Family Violence Orders and Police Family Violence Orders by a couple of hundred each.
We call on the new Minister for Women to hold a long‑overdue roundtable with the family, domestic and sexual violence sector to forge a new and better way forward for a safer Tasmania.
In the age of climate change, more funding is needed towards emergency services. The SES new vehicle funding is, of course, welcome, but what’s this government doing to help support the uptake of volunteer, to ensure that the volunteers, particularly in the SES, have all their modern equipment that they need to do their jobs efficiently and effectively and that that’s funded and resourced and they’re not dipping into their own pockets?
I’d like to add here that it is very much welcome to see, even if it is so far only in this budget and not in the Forward Estimates that parks have the capacity for a bushfire winch support. It is essential that it is part of their budget moving forward.
Forward Estimates show the budget for TFS for emergency services will decline. With climate change driving more extreme weather events, including fires and floods, why isn’t this funding reflective of that in the Forward Estimates? It should be. We know it’s coming.
TasTAFE has seen such poor infrastructure investment over the years that its own campuses have become both fiscal and safety hazards. I note in the budget, there is $450,000 for the future automotive centre planning, which is welcome, albeit I am biased, but this is what we should see happening, proper long-term planning in place so when the time comes the state is ready to transition to new facilities and training models as they are needed.
But not everybody wants to be a mechanic or a plumber or a builder. Some want to study in screener media and be part of the state’s growing industry. With shows like Alone and Bay of Fires being filmed right here in Tasmania, international award-winning films are out of here, such as the film Pedder.
The government acknowledges the importance of the Arts Centre in Tasmania in the budget, and even in this budget under the arts industry development outputs their alliance around individual artists, arts organisations and major Tasmanian cultural institutions through the arts output 5.3 says it is to provide support for professional development and seeks to promote Tasmanian talent, creativity, stories to a worldwide audience and employment and economic activity in the state.
Now, surely all of this path is really just taking the mickey. While the arts, screen and media courses at TAFE, which have had wait lists of prospective students are losing subsidies funding and lab tech, where over 50 per cent of students go on to be employed in the health sector, the majority of others go into education and food safety. This subsidy funding has been sent to private mainland RTOs without any data that shows that their study completion, satisfaction and employment success rates are any better than that of which TasTAFE has offered locally.
In the Digital Inclusion Report released last week, Tasmania ranked the worst performing state in digital inclusion and literacy in the nation, all while our essential online access centres have been shut or defunded. As technology takes off the communities, core assets are being stripped when we need the most revamped and upscaled.
Tasmania needs affordable telecommunication. We could be clean, green and connected. Instead, as we’re seeing more upgrades in the network, the connectivity seems to be coming worse. The Great Lakes and Tasman Communities are both screaming out for a fair service, which is what they’re paying for, while receiving a second rate, if any service. It has been so bad in these areas that emergency responders have been unable to make contact with the people who need help in emergencies.
In my electorate of Longford, communities welcome the funding. The community in Longford are welcoming the funding for the much-needed child and early learning centre which they’ve been waiting for in angst. But will progress begin now or will this cut? Or will this centre be cut come may? What certainty has been provided for the Longford community now?
Several communities in the Northern Midlands which have presently unused police houses and stations have been trying for years to acquire the state government owned assets to create community centres that have been presently missing in the region. For example, in Evandale, the doctor’s surgery is in need of expansion, and they could use their police house. Their catchment is beyond the local region to the Fingal Valley and beyond.
In Perth, a community hub is being proposed by the Lions Club, the Perth Historical Association and the Perth Progress Association. This is a move that has been backed by the Northern Midlands Council. They’ve said that they’re going to write to the Treasurer as a pitch to get this much needed community asset in a rapidly expanding area. In Longford, they are seeking the old police house for a neighbourhood house, which the Northern Midlands, an incredibly vast area, is otherwise without.
Instead of investing in these holistic social pursuits designed and run by the community by means of giving public assets to the community, this government wants to flog them off to the highest bidder for a cheap, quick budget top-up that won’t go anywhere near touching the sides of the stadium-sized hole.
We always expected the environment to suffer in this budget, but for the economy to suffer for the extent it does, is quite something else. This is a political choice and it doesn’t have to be this way. As the Greens presented today, our costed alternatives for greater social and environmental outcomes for Tasmania, our plan, would improve the bottom line by $ 1.5 billion. That’s the tangible figure.
The policies and programs on climate action, and funding all of the State of the Environment Report recommendations, will help safeguard a stable environment for future Tasmanians. We can create a safer future which will help alleviate weather extremities, provide equitable access to all in protected and public land, and help secure the future for our primary producers. Let’s see future equality for Tasmanians, socially and environmentally, so that we all get a fair go.
