Mr BAYLEY – Honourable Deputy Speaker, I thank the member for Clark for bringing on this matter of public importance again. It is indeed very important, not least at the moment when we have a government focused on absolutely the wrong priorities. As mentioned last time we spoke on this issue, at the top of everybody’s lips when it comes to the physical spend and services and what is required in this state, is the absolute bemusement at this government’s obsession with a billion-dollar stadium at Macquarie Point.
I want to start by saying there is not a hell of a lot that is transparent about this government over its 10 years and how it engages with the Tasmanian people. Whether it be releasing advice around the changes to the State Coastal Policy, whether it is the racing bill we are debating at the moment, and trying to get the commission exempt from right to information laws, or whether it is the media itself having to run a right to know campaign, we know transparency is utterly lacking in this state. There is one thing, however, that is entirely transparent when it comes to this government and that is the blame-shifting we are seeing at the moment with this government and this Treasurer trying to shift responsibility for some of its decisions, and therefore the impending budget chaos and the impending budget cuts to the federal government.
We have seen the Treasurer, stating at the time when it was confirmed – long overdue because we all knew it – that the $240 million commitment for Macquarie Point is not GST‑exempt because the Treasurer forgot to negotiate that and did not ask it until the Labor opposition asked a question.
The Treasurer has declared now that the gloves are off. Whether it is on Health or other issues, all we are hearing in this Chamber now is blame, blame, blame, and the tired kind of rhetoric we hear around being un‑Tasmanian and/or anti‑Tasmanian or ‘Are you going to stand up for Tasmania?’. What a load of bollocks. We are all here for Tasmania, we are all committed to the Tasmanian people and their expectations about having a level of service that actually meets their needs. That is clearly not what we are getting. The community does not want argy‑bargy between Labor and Liberal politicians when it comes to the budget. People just want action and investment in the things that matter like health, education, housing and community services.
Yes, the government is always going be able to point to a record investment here or, ‘Yes, we have increased investment there’, but we all know that times are changing and costs are going up. We all know that a record investment in health actually does not mean anything, Treasurer or Health minister, if the costs of delivering health services are increasing or if the demand on our health system is increasing. We do not need record investment: we need adequate investment.
Community service organisations are crying out for support. They deliver incredibly important services to Tasmanian people on behalf of government. All they want is indexation so that their funding keeps up with the costs of doing business and providing those services. All they want is some certainty around their contracts so that they can plan for the future and deliver staffing. They want project‑specific funding to cover multiple years so that they can stage out the work they do.
The Tenants’ Union is an example. Tasmania has 58,000 renters – an 11 per cent increase as at the 2021 census. However, the Tenants’ Union has the least funding of any organisation. There were 10 evictions before the courts last Thursday, 13 June, but the Tenants’ Union only has one lawyer in the north. How does that person do their job? How does that person manage their own health and wellbeing when they know that they cannot physically and practically meet the needs of their constituents?
Out‑of‑home care: we heard last week that there are a plethora of out‑of‑home‑care positions in the north west that do not get funding.
The member for Lyons was asking questions today about Parks funding: investment in tracks, investment in the kind of infrastructure the Tasmanian people need. If the Tasmanian government cannot spend money on a lift at Salamanca, what hope is there in the Parks and Wildlife Service?
Budgets are a choice, investments are a choice, and people cannot understand why this government is fixated on a billion‑dollar stadium –
Time expired.
