Mr BAYLEY question to TREASURER, Mr ABETZ
Major rating agencies have now downgraded Tasmania’s credit rating, with S&P Global identifying the stadium and potential cost overruns as an issue. A lower credit rating will lead to increased rates on future debt ‑ a debt that will grow massively by building the stadium. Meanwhile, the former Treasury boss, who spent a year considering the stadium as part of the independent assessment panel, gave evidence to the Legislative Council that the cost of servicing the debt will rise to $90 million per year within five years. Because we will have to borrow to pay the interest costs on the stadium debt, Tasmania will be in what Mr Wallace calls a ‘compound interest trap’.
Given your long‑stated attitude to intergenerational debt, you’ve just justified this by saying you’re going to ‘grow the pie’, yet your own Treasury, in the Pre-Election Financial Outlook (PEFO), has rejected that you can grow your way out of the problems associated with the Budget. Do you have advice from Treasury that the stadium will lead to growth of the economy?
Time expired.
ANSWER
Honourable Speaker, I thank the honourable member for the question. Please don’t verbal me. In relation to the Budget and getting things back into shape, it will be multifactorial, and one of those is to grow the pie. Is that the whole answer? Of course it isn’t. We do have to rein in expenditure as well. If you have a look at the expenditure issue, the payment of public servants, for example, makes up 46 per cent of our Budget. If you get rid of the stadium, of about 1 per cent over the forward Estimates, it isn’t going to make much difference, is it? This is where our friends from time to time find it convenient to only talk about one aspect or say, ‘growing the economy won’t do it’, I agree.
Mr BAYLEY – Point of order, Speaker, Standing Order 45, relevance. The question was, do you have advice from Treasury about growing the pie, are they telling you that it’s going to deliver the kind of numbers you believe?
The SPEAKER – Thank you, honourable Treasurer.
Mr ABETZ – I thought I was talking about growing the pie and that it was not and that it was not the only answer.
Mr Bayley – The question was, do you have advice from Treasury?
Mr ABETZ – Of course, I get and take advice from Treasury from time to time. I get advice from all over the place and then at the end of the day we, on this side, are elected and appointed to make decisions. We listen to advice, but we decide and that is part and parcel of our Westminster system and listening to those 15,000 outside of this place just last Sunday. I don’t think they were all wrong. I happen to believe that all of them happen to be right. I know that you were there with a rally of 1500, in comparison, the previous Sunday. You’re entitled to your opinion. You’re entitled to your views, just as much as just as much as I am –
Dr Woodruff – Just answer the question.
The SPEAKER – Order, Dr Woodruff.
Mr ABETZ – and the majority of this House, as they have expressed it, in support of this proposal.
Growing the pie will be assisted by the stadium. That’s part of the issue with the budget. We will continue to work through on other areas as well to ensure that we get the budget back to where it ought to be over the forward Estimates. That is what I’ve committed myself to, the government’s committed itself to and we will work exceptionally hard to deliver that for the people of Tasmania. Just because we have a problem here, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t grab ‑ with both hands – the opportunities that are over here which will provide such great economic stimulus for our state and for our young people.
The SPEAKER – The honourable Treasurer’s time has expired.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Mr BAYLEY – A supplementary question, Speaker?
The SPEAKER – I will hear the supplementary question.
Mr BAYLEY – The Treasurer just talked about that he has listened to the advice. Well, it’s plainly obvious that he hasn’t listened to the experts at the Planning Commission, the Treasury boss, people like Nicholas Gruen, for example. However, he mentioned that growing the pie will be assisted by the stadium, and I come back to my original question: on what basis do you make that statement? Do you have advice from your own Treasury department that justifies and backs up that statement? Or do you have advice from anyone else that backs up that statement? If so, can you provide it?
The SPEAKER – Honourable Treasurer.
Mr ABETZ – In relation to the economic benefits, all I need to do is listen to the lord mayor’s own economic advice of $179 million each and every year. You see, member for Clark, it depends on who you want to listen to. Economics is not an exact science, as I’ve said a number of times, therefore, we need to make our own decisions.
You happened to mentioned Nick Gruen, was he the fellow who was duchessed around by Roland Browne before he undertook his inquiry?
Members interjecting.
The SPEAKER – Honourable members of the Greens.
Mr ABETZ – The same Roland Browne who informed the public that the numbers were similar at the two rallies. Do you know what? I think it was nearly right. The only difference was a zero on the end – 1500 to 15,000. That’s the sort of talk we get out of Mr Browne. He duchessed Nick Gruen around –
The SPEAKER – The member’s time has expired.
Mr Abetz – Oh, what a pity.
