Tasmanian Greens Policies

The human story of lutruwita/Tasmania dates back tens of thousands of years. From kunanyi to kutalina, putalina to larapuna, wukalina to takayna, this is the story of people deeply connected to this island. The palawa/pakana people have survived invasion, dispossession, and attempted genocide. To this day they face discrimination, oppression, and the ongoing impact of colonisation. This must change.  

What we’ve done

The Greens have always fought for justice for Tasmanian Aboriginal people. Over 25 years ago we pushed the Liberal Premier to make an Apology to Tasmanian’s stolen generations. When the Greens were last in the balance of power we introduced Tasmania’s first dual-naming policy, and passed legislation to return further land to the Aboriginal community through the House of Assembly – only to be blocked by the Legislative Council. In the last term of Parliament we successfully pushed the government to fly the Aboriginal flag above Parliament House.

The Greens have consistently pushed for land returns, Truth, Treaty, and equality. We are committed to fighting for fundamental, lasting change for Tasmanian Aboriginal people.

Our plan

• Return land to Aboriginal ownership and management, including through a new reserve tenure.
• Reform legislation to ensure lutruwita’s Aboriginal heritage is properly protected.
• Support a respectful and effective model for Truth-telling and Treaty.
• Push to change the date of Australia Day to one that unites us all, and does not cause disrespect and trauma.
• Establish Aboriginal seats in Tasmania’s Parliament.
• Support Aboriginal people to repatriate ancestral remains and cultural objects held by colonial institutions.
• Commence an Aboriginal-led process to create a memorial to the warriors and victims of the Frontier Wars.
• Work with Tasmanian Aboriginal people to create self-run facilities that store and showcase cultural heritage and knowledge.
• Recruitment and support for dedicated Aboriginal Health Liaison nurses and midwives to address health inequities.
• Fully fund Aboriginal Education Services to ensure the ongoing viability and quality of services and make positions permanent.

With a new government and the Greens in balance of power we’ll fight to:

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What we’ve done

The last time the Greens were in the balance of power we successfully protected 170,000 hectares of forests, and the carbon they store, by expanding the Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area. Protecting these forests has been a primary reason Tasmania has reached our ‘net zero’ emissions status. We also delivered Tasmania’s most comprehensive climate research to date, and the state’s first ever Forest Carbon Study.

In recent times we have moved for a statewide ban on new thermal coal mines, and twice tried to declare a climate emergency. Liberal and Labor politicians teamed up to vote against us every time.

Our plan

• Stop the release of millions of tonnes of carbon emissions every year by ending the logging and burning of native forests.
• Bring down emissions across all industries with strong annual targets and plans to achieve them.
• Ban all new fossil fuel projects, including the proposed new coal mine on the state’s East Coast.
• Reduce the potential for bushfires to spread by recruiting 30 additional rapid response firefighters.
• Roll out rooftop solar to all public and social housing.
• Expand support for other households to install solar and batteries.
• Invest in more public charging stations for electric vehicles.
• Invest in our communities to better protect them from extreme weather events and other climate impacts.
• Build environmental resilience to climate change by supporting and funding landscape repair and restoration.
• Reduce the risk and impact of flooding events by restoring flood basins and wetland areas.
• Incentivise and support farmers to reduce livestock emissions.
• Identify and protect agricultural land at risk from climate change.
• Implementing a strong, single-use plastics ban.

It didn’t used to be so bad, but for years the Liberals haven’t built enough public and social housing. And they’ve sat on their hands while hundreds of homes are converted to AirBnBs, pushing rents up at a rapid rate.

Rents have been skyrocketing, but every time the Greens have tried to put a stop to unreasonable rent increases we’ve been blocked by Liberal and Labor politicians. They have left Tasmanians exposed to rent increases of hundreds of dollars a month.

We need affordable housing, not a billion-dollar stadium.

With a new government and the Greens in balance of power we’ll fight to:

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What we’ve done

The last time the Greens were in the balance of power we brought the public housing waiting list down to its lowest level in a decade through the work of a Greens Housing Minister. Since the Liberals took office the list has more than doubled in length.

When the Covid pandemic hit, it was our amendment that put a freeze on rent increases and put a stop to people being evicted during the emergency period.

In 2021 when we saw rent increases of hundreds of dollars a month becoming common, we tried to pass new laws to protect renters from unreasonable rent increases – but we were blocked by the Liberals and Labor. The same thing happened when we tried again in late 2023.

Our plan

• Invest an additional $100 million in quality public homes each year.
• Increase funding for homelesseness services by 20%.
• Extend the first home buyers stamp duty exemption from just established dwellings, to also include new homes.
• Stop unreasonable rent increases and end no-cause evictions.
• Put an immediate stop to new whole-home short stay rentals, and phase out existing listings in residential areas.
• Introduce minimum standards for new appliances in rental properties, including heat pumps, ovens, fridges, washing machines.
• Establish a Real Estate and Rental Standards Taskforce to crack down on malpractice in the real estate industry.
• Fund the Tenants’ Union of Tasmania for increased services in the North and North-West of the State.
• Provide homeless Tasmanians with secure tenancy and wrap-around support services with a “housing first” approach to homelessness.
• Encourage more homes to be available for Tasmanians by introducing a 1% vacant property levy – except for legitimate uses, like shacks.
• Reform residential land tax, establishing new higher rates for multi-million dollar property portfolios.
• Establish land tax exemptions for people who rent out a spare room at below market rates in their home.
• Reform regulations to support innovative housing options like tiny homes.
• Require seller transparency about a property’s condition by introducing a mandatory property disclosure system.
• Establishment of a Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor Housing Development Authority to facilitate housing and urban growth projects along the Northern Transit corridor.
• Child and Youth Housing and Homelessness Plan to address the needs of young people extending to 25 years of age.

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Renters Rights Reforms

People are really struggling to keep their head above water at the moment. The price of groceries is sky high, power bills keep going up, and good luck finding an affordable place to call home.

The Liberals haven’t lifted a finger to help struggling Tasmanians – they’re too focused on their billion-dollar stadium. Labor are a little better, but they still aren’t doing enough – and they backed the stadium too.

With a new government and the Greens in balance of power we’ll fight to:

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What we’ve  done

The last time the Greens were in the balance of power we delivered lower power bills for 9,500 low-income households by upgrading insulation, heating, and appliances. We also delivered much-needed extra funding for critical community support organisations like neighbourhood houses and emergency food service providers. We negotiated a review of the structure of our energy government businesses that resulted in lower power prices, and delivered Australia’s first comprehensive cost of living strategy.

More recently, we moved to legislate free Metro bus travel and to put a stop to unreasonable rent increases, but Liberal and Labor politicians teamed up to block these measures.

In 2024, after many years and several attempts we finally passed laws to remove the offence of begging.

Our plan

• Put a stop to unreasonable rent increases.
• Extend the first home buyers stamp duty exemption from just established dwellings, to also include new homes.
• Create a free public transport system across Tasmania – in all rural, regional, and urban areas.
• Halve the cost of car registration for concession card holders.
• Make public schools genuinely free by abolishing public school levies.
• Provide a $110 back-to-school supplies grant for every child living below the poverty line.
• Bring down power bills for renters by introducing minimum standards for appliances in rental properties e.g. heat pumps, ovens, fridges, washing machines.
• Make TasTAFE free for Tasmanians.
• Introduce means-based fines, where fines are set based on income.
• Help low-income households bring down power bills by subsidising rooftop solar, double-glazing, and insulation.
• Deliver more support for emergency food relief for struggling Tasmanians.

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Free, Frequent, and Reliable Public Transport
Easing Back-to-School Costs

But even now, with our ‘clean and green’ brand so widely celebrated, Liberal and Labor politicians continue to encourage destructive and polluting industries like native forest logging and industrial fish farming.

We’ve seen repeated efforts to privatise and develop areas inside the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and national parks.

They’re not even worried about the extinction of the Swift Parrot and the Maugean Skate.
We can’t let this continue.

The Greens have always stood for protecting Tassie’s environment, and we always will.

With a new government, and the Greens in balance of power, we’ll fight to:

Get involved with our campaign

What we’ve done

The last time the Greens were in the balance of power we protected 170,000 hectares of carbon rich forests by adding them to Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area. We also won a ban on single-use plastic bags, delivered Tasmania’s most comprehensive climate research to date, and the state’s first ever Forest Carbon Study.

After being elected in 2014, the Liberals gutted many environmental programs, and put a stop to water quality monitoring in Tasmanian rivers. In this term of Parliament, the Greens successfully pressured the government to reverse this decision and restart the water quality program. We also drove increased investment in river health science and reform to water use fees.

With Liberal and Labor politicians trying to outdo each other in supporting damaging and polluting industries, it’s only been the Greens in Parliament who have stood for nature, for wildlife, and for environmental protection.

Our plan

• End native forest logging, and support forestry workers into new jobs in sustainable industry jobs, and manage native forests to protect and conserve biodiversity and carbon stores.
• Implement all of the recommendations of the State of the Environment report.
• Review and reform Tasmania’s environmental laws to ensure the protection of Tasmania’s wildlife, wilderness, and waterways.
• Protect the Maugean skate by removing fish farming from Macquarie Harbour and developing a basin recovery plan.
• Create a dedicated and coordinated Derwent Catchment Authority to manage pollution and reduce industrial and activity-based runoff into the river system.
• Restore strong protections in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area management plan.
• Repurpose Forestry Tasmania to manage native forests for the protection and conservation of existing and future carbon stores in a heating climate.
• Reform the laws and regulations governing large-scale water use to ensure the long-term health of Tasmania’s rivers.
• Create a standalone Department of Environment and Water.
• Make the Environment Protection Authority truly independent.
• Ban native duck hunting.
• Protect in formal reserves the 356,000 hectares of high conservation value forest threatened by the Liberals.
• Abolish the secretive EOI tourism process and replace the Reserve Activity Assessment process with a robust statutory process with merit-based appeal rights.
• Introduce a statewide ban on single-use plastics.
• Transition the industrial fish farming industry to closed-loop and land-based operations.
• Expand the wetland restoration program for kanamaluka/Tamar Estuary to include private land.
• Protect native wildlife by passing laws to ensure cats are confined to an owner’s property.
• Invest in Parks and Wildlife service staff, including for more rapid response remote area firefighters, park rangers, field officers, and a fully staffed Threatened Species Unit.
• Invest in community capacity building for Landcare, Coastcare, and Wildcare volunteers and restore funding to the Private Land Conservation Program.
• Renew Tasmania’s Marine Protected Area strategy, with a target of 10% of Tasmanian waters being no-take reserves.
• Prevent illegal firewood harvesting (‘woodhooking’) and sale.
• Make Invasive Species Eradication Plans and programs for Tasmania’s reserves, including for feral deer and for weed infestations.
• Develop a biodiversity strategy, including comprehensive monitoring, and an update of biodiversity planning maps.
• Develop a funding and implementation plan for the restoration of Lake Pedder.
• Build environmental resilience to climate change by supporting and funding landscape repair and restoration.
• Reduce the risk and impact of flooding events by restoring flood basins and wetland areas.
• Review the Tasmanian Reserve Estate, establish a new reserve tenure for Aboriginal-owned and managed national parks, and upgrade the reserve status of appropriate areas to national parks.
• Progress World Heritage recognition for the takayna/Tarkine, the Spero-Wanderer Wilderness, the West Coast Range, the Vale River Catchment, Granite Tor Conservation Area, and Recherche Bay.
• Visitor infrastructure and promotion for 8 big tree tourism sites.
• Protect the Southwest Sky Country by declaring a dark sky sanctuary, and work towards certification of the rest of the TWWHA
• Development of a strategic avitourism plan for Tasmania.
• Provide parliament with the power to disallow the sale of public land.
• Work with landcare and conservation organisations to promote, and help them develop, conservation tourism products and interpretation.

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10 Point Plan to Clean Up Fish Farms

Everyone knows a horror story from Tassie’s health system.

Hospitals are overflowing, people are waiting years for important surgery, and if you call triple zero it’s a roll of the dice if you’ll get an ambulance when you need it.

People are waiting in pain. Staff are burned out. Mental health services are falling apart. Rural and regional communities are being left behind.

Health should be top of the to-do list, but Liberal and Labor politicians are backing a billion-dollar stadium instead.

Something needs to change.

With a new government and the Greens in balance of power we’ll fight to:

Get involved with our campaign

What we’ve done

The Greens have long been a strong voice for health staff and unions. And we’ve been working hard to support everyday people who have been let down by the health system.

In 2023 we successfully moved to hold a parliamentary inquiry into ambulance ramping. What this inquiry has uncovered – and the stories shared by patients, families, and health workers – has forced the government to finally start taking notice of this critical issue. The government also adopted the Greens’ policy for investment in preventative health initiatives in communities. In 2020 we successfully lobbied the government to establish a dedicated eating disorder clinic.

Our plan

• Establish a New Hobart Hospital Development Unit tasked with developing and progressing plans for a new hospital in Hobart.
• Legislation to mandate minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.
• Improve support for the nursing and midwifery workforce by establishing clinical coaches in every ward, unit and service.
• Recruit 30 community nurses to enhance continuity of care.
• Expand northern community dementia services by 20 FTE to include comprehensive care planning, proactive home visits, and early intervention programs.
• Recruitment and support for dedicated Aboriginal Health Liaison nurses and midwives to address health inequities.
• Invest $500,000 to establish a Nurse Practitioner Career Pathway, supporting recruitment and leadership in dementia care and community health programs.
• Invest 49.8 FTE in southern Community Physiotherapy Services.
• Increase funding to expand the new Kings Meadows renal unit’s capacity to 24 treatment spaces.
• Create a ten-year plan for building and upgrading health infrastructure that prioritises bringing forward the existing long-term plan.
• Expand on-site radiology and pathology services at the LGH to have 24/7 coverage.
• Expand the number of publicly available perinatal mental health beds to 12.
• Review the public health system to identify any reforms needed to ensure we are not dependent on private providers for particular services.
• Invest in alcohol and drug withdrawal management and rehabilitation beds in the public health system.
• Decriminalise personal drug use.
• Allow pill testing at events and festivals and establish permanent testing facilities.
• Expand the preventative health grants program to $5 million per year.
• Increasing the core funding to Quit Tasmania, as well as funding their anti-smoking and anti-vaping campaigns.
• Implement legislative, policy, and practice reforms to tackle black market tobacco, protect children, and help people quit smoking.
• Increase funding for LGBTIQA+ mental health support and school inclusion programs.
• Extend the SmartFood and Move Well Eat Well programs to all public schools, to promote healthy eating and exercise.
• Establish a program for free, government-funded, smoking cessation products handouts in GP clinics.
• Provide a Healthy Eating Advisory service, to assist organisations and businesses promote healthier foods and drinks.
• Establishment of a Health Education and Research Centre in Launceston – for nurse and midwife training and professional development.
• provide public remote area first aid boxes to remote communities of the State.
• support for teleconference facilities in small rural hospitals, including specialist doctor and nurse assistance to help GPs assess and manage emergency patients.
• ban the placement of unhealthy food and drinks near checkouts in large retailers (big supermarkets and pharmacies).
• ban on television ads for unhealthy food and drinks during standard viewing hours for children.

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Investing in Northern Health

Every young Tasmanian deserves access to a high-quality public education that helps them on their lifetime journey, supports them to reach their potential, and provides the skills and knowledge they need for the future.

While teachers and support staff do an amazing job and work tirelessly for their students, they have been let down by Liberal politicians who have made it clear they don’t truly believe in the importance of public education.

Achievement should not be determined by a student’s address or the wealth of their parents and carers, but right now in Tasmania, it is.

What we’ve done

Last time the Greens were in balance of power, a Greens Education Minister launched Tasmania’s extremely successful Launching into Learning program, focusing on early years education. We led the charge for national needs-based funding to be committed beyond a single year and have consistently advocated for investment and reform to ensure a quality public education system. Since then, we also successfully pushed for an independent review of disability funding in schools.

Our plan

• Tackle the teacher shortage by immediately recruiting 50 new teachers.
• Provide students the specialist support they need by hiring 20 new school psychologists, 20 social workers, 20 speech pathologists, and 30 education support specialists.
• Abolish public school levies, making public schools in Tasmania free.
• Make TasTAFE free for Tasmanians.
• Establish a TasTAFE Automotive Centre of Excellence in southern Tasmania.
• Provide a $110 back-to-school supplies grant for every child living below the poverty line.
• Fully fund Aboriginal Education Services to ensure the ongoing viability and quality of services and make positions permanent.
• Extend the SmartFood and Move Well Eat Well programs to all public schools, to promote healthy eating and exercise.
• Reform the University of Tasmania Act 1992 to improve governance, accountability and academic outcomes.
• UTAS must stop the move into the CBD and confirm an ongoing commitment to the maintenance of the Sandy Bay campus for educational purposes, including respecting the built heritage, public open space and natural environment of the site.
• Create an independent external maintenance and capital expenditure oversight board for independent assessment of education infrastructure priorities.

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Easing Back-to-School Costs

Public transport is an essential part of our society. It provides affordable transportation options, connects people to work and education, reduces air pollution, and eases congestion.

Every dollar invested in public transport delivers huge social, economic, and environmental benefits. But despite the obvious positive impacts, the Liberal government has refused to invest the funds required to create a statewide public transport system that meets the needs of everyone – whether they live in a rural, regional, or urban area.

What we’ve done

The Greens have been consistent advocates for the expansion of frequency and accessibility in public transport.

The last time the Greens were in balance of power we established the state’s first high frequency bus corridor, delivering better access to services for tens of thousands of Tasmanians and having an immediate impact on patronage.

In 2023 we moved a bill to make Metro bus travel free but were blocked by the Liberals and Labor.

Our plan

• Create a free public transport system across Tasmania – in all rural, regional, and urban areas.
• Invest in a 10% increase in bus services across rural, regional, and urban areas, to make services more frequent and reliable.
• Make transport options part of the planning for new homes so that everyone is close to public and alternate transport.
• Support a Light Rail service between the CBD and Hobart’s northern suburbs.
• Establish a $200,000 grant program for council’s to deliver e-bike hire schemes.
• Invest $2 million per year in the Better Active Transport grants programs.
• Invest in secure bike and scooter parking, with e-bike charging options, at bus stop hubs on high frequency routes and ferry terminals.
• Extend the Derwent ferry network, including convenient terminal access throughout the Greater Hobart Area, including the Brighton municipality.
• Update Metro Tasmania’s Disability Action Plan.
• Expand the Transport Access Scheme to include rideshare.

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Free, Frequent, and Reliable Public Transport

For far too long Liberal and Labor politicians have prioritised the interests of big corporations instead of looking after everyday people and the environment.

This focus is no real surprise given the vast sums of corporate donations the major parties rake in every year.

To ensure the strength of our democracy now and into the future we need to clean up politics and make politicians accountable to voters – not wealthy donors.

What we’ve done

The Greens have been constant advocates for strengthening our democracy and holding politicians accountable. Unlike the Liberal and Labor parties, we lead by example on political integrity by disclosing all donations of over $1,500 on our Party website.

In the 2021-24 term Parliament we successfully passed a bill to ensure whistleblowers are better protected. We also saw the number of seats in the House of Assembly restored to pre-1998 levels – a reform the Greens have campaigned for across many years.

In 2024 we passed Greens legislation to require monthly disclosure of politicl donations, and to reduce the threshold at which donations have to be disclosed to $1,000.

Our plan

• Get the dirty money out of politics by banning corporations from donating to political parties and candidates.
• Stop the dishonest and deliberate use of misinformation by implementing ‘truth in political advertising’ laws.
• Level the playing field in elections by introducing spending caps for individual candidates and political parties.
• Cap political donations at a total of $3,000 per donor, per electoral term.
• Reform and strengthen Tasmania’s information and transparency framework, including the Right to Information Act 2009.
• Empower the Integrity Commission by reforming it into an Anti Corruption-Commission, reforming the Act to implement the recommendations the Commission of Inquiry and the Cox and Weiss Reviews, ensure conduct of incumbent MPs during an election campaign can be investigated, introducing real consequences for misconduct, and increase core funding by $1.5 million per year.
• Ensure that other integrity bodies are adequately funded to perform their functions, Ombudsman and National Preventative Mechanism.
• Provide parliament with the power to disallow the sale of public land.
• Scrap the Government’s ‘Efficiency and Productivity Unit’ and planned job cuts.
• End ‘sports rorts’ styled pork-barreling grants, providing for independently assessed community infrastructure grants.

Safe and supportive environments enable children and young people to thrive, fostering their physical, emotional and mental wellbeing.

We must build a society that cherishes their rights, protects their dignity, and equips them with the tools to create a brighter and safer future. Distressingly, the harrowing stories heard through the Commission of Inquiry in the past four years has shown Tasmania is still a long way from this most important of goals.

Victim-survivors and whistleblowers courageously spoke out at the Commission of Inquiry because they believed change was possible. The Greens are committed to making sure this bravery was not in vain, and that real action is taken to deliver a safe and happy future for Tasmania’s children and young people.  

What we’ve done

The Greens have been demanding action to protect children and young people for decades – we first moved to establish a Commission of Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse way back in 2003.

We have spent years advocating for the closure of the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, and in 2021 finally secured a commitment from the government to take this step.

We have made the government’s response to the Commission of Inquiry response a central focus, and will continue to work to ensure every recommendation is implemented in a timely way.

Our plan

• Fully implement all the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse as soon as possible.
• Ensure closure of Ashley Youth Detention Centre occurs as soon as possible, and is not delayed until 2028 as currently planned.
• Immediately increase investment in evidence-based diversion and rehabilitation programs to keep children and young people out of detention.
• Ensure the new youth justice facility designed to ensure children and young people’s human rights are protected.
• End the practice of processing children and young people through police watchhouses and other adult facilities
  Deliver evidence-based, trauma-informed, and fit-for-purpose supported accommodation for bail.
• Raise of the age of criminal responsibility to 14.
• Invest $425,000 per year to extend the Troublesmiths program statewide.
• Immediately recruit 50 new child safety officers.
• Abandon the Child Safety Services team model, and return to single dedicated case workers for each child in care.
• Set a maximum case-load for child safety workers.
• Bring out of home care policies and guidelines up to date, and make sure they stay current.
• Develop parent advocacy services to help parents of children in the child safety system aim to reunify with their children.
• Develop a strategy to increase the use and effectiveness of police diversion programs for youth offenders.
• Provide ten days of vicarious trauma leave for workers who regularly deal with trauma.
• Double payments for respite care, and increase the amount of funded bed nights by 50% (some 2,580 nights).
• Increase investment in programs that help young people transition from out of home care to living independently.
• Permanently increase investment in Intensive Family Engagement Services, to provide early intervention support and reduce the need for children to enter out of home care.
• Child and Youth Housing and Homelessness Plan to address the needs of young people extending to 25 years of age.

Transitioning to a cleaner, fairer economy doesn’t have to mean jobs are put at risk – in fact it can be a huge opportunity to create new jobs and future-focused industries.

By prioritising sustainability and fairness, and supporting innovation, we can foster positive economic outcomes while ensuring a healthier planet for future generations.

The Greens have a positive vision for Tasmania that recognises the importance of supporting home-grown industry, regional communities, and young people’s ability to pursue their dreams without having to move to the mainland.

What we’ve done

Under a Greens Education Minister, Tasmania established its first Sustainability Learning Centre, delivering training for the sustainable industries of the future.

The Greens have consistently fought for a just transition into sustainable industry.

Our plan

• Support forest workers and regional communities to transition into sustainable industries.
• Establish a TasTAFE Automotive Centre of Excellence in southern Tasmania.
• Invest $425,000 per year to extend the Troublesmiths program statewide.
• A program to support new migrants and international students to join the workforce.
• Grow jobs in solar installation and energy efficiency upgrades through an accelerated new solar panel connections program and energy efficiency upgrade grants.
• Establish a veterans employment program, including dedicated veteran positions in the State Service.
• Fund the peak body for social enterprise and facilitate new social enterprise initiatives via grant and loan programs.
• Investigate options and take steps to ensure artists have a right to fair pay for their work.
• Visitor infrastructure and promotion for 8 big tree tourism sites.
• Protect the Southwest Sky Country by declaring a dark sky sanctuary, and work towards certification of the rest of the TWWHA
• Development of a strategic avitourism plan for Tasmania.
• Work with landcare and conservation organisations to promote, and help them develop, conservation tourism products and interpretation.

By making big corporations pay their fair share we can fund the things that benefit everyday Tasmanians – affordable housing, a better health system, and real cost of living relief.

What we’ve done

Liberal and Labor politicians are focused on lining the pockets of their corporate donors, but the Greens have always stood up to big corporations and the top end of town. We have continued to fight to make the needs of the community the government’s top priority – rather than the needs of big multinational corporations.

Our plan

• Save hundreds of millions by not building a new stadium at Macquarie Point.
• Raise over $15 million per year by aligning mining royalties and rents with the national average.
• Raise $8 million per year by restoring casino tax rates to pre-2022 levels.
• Increase tax rates on EGMs (pokies) to 45% in all venues.
• Charge a 10% royalty on salmon grown in state-owned waters.
• Introduce a 75% tax on property speculators who make a windfall profit simply because land is rezoned.
• Establish a 1% vacant property levy – except for legitimate uses, like shacks.
• Reform residential land tax, establishing new higher rates for multi-million-dollar property portfolios.
• Phase in full cost recovery for water licences.
• Return the Treasurer’s Reserve to pre-COVID levels of $10 million per year, saving $40 million per year.
• End taxpayer funded subsidies to the racing industry.

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2025 Fiscal Strategy
Budget Repair Plan
Tranche One of Budget Repair Measures
Tranche Two of Budget Repair Measures
Tranche Three of Budget Repair Measures

In 2014, the Liberals came into office with a populist ‘tough on crime’ agenda. Despite evidence from around the world showing this approach would be a disaster, they went ahead anyway.

Ten years later and the justice and corrections system is now at breaking point.

Our plan is to move towards a therapeutic, restorative justice system that’s based on evidence, reduces recidivism, and makes our community safer.

What we’ve done

The last time the Greens were in balance of power, a Green Corrections Minister achieved improvements in the system, significantly reducing the rate of reoffending and incidents of assaults in prisons. This work was quickly reversed when the Liberals took office.

After years of lobbying from the Greens, we have finally seen commitments to close Ashley Youth Detention Centre, raise the age of criminal responsibility, and move to a more therapeutic youth justice system.

In 2024, after many years and several attempts we finally passed laws to remove the offence of begging. We also passed amendments for an independent review looking at options to improve the court mandated drug diversion program.

Our plan

• Fully implement all the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse as soon as possible.
• Ensure that Weiss review recommendations are fully funded.
• Ensure closure of Ashley Youth Detention Centre occurs as soon as possible, and is not delayed until 2028 as currently planned.
• Immediately increase investment in evidence-based diversion and rehabilitation programs to keep children and young people out of detention.
• Ensure the new youth justice facility designed to ensure children and young people’s human rights are protected.
• End the practice of processing children and young people through police watchhouses and other adult facilities
  Deliver evidence-based, trauma-informed, and fit-for-purpose supported accommodation for bail.
• Introduce a Human Rights Act for Tasmania and establish a Human Rights Commission.
• Establish a bail Hostel in Hobart, to stop people being denied bail because they lack stable accommodation.
• Remove criminal penalties for the possession of drugs in personal-use quantities.
• Increase funding to community legal centres and Legal Aid.
• Raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14.
• Establish a real ban on sexual orientation and gender identity conversion practices, fully implementing the recommendations of the TLRI.
• Establish a compensation scheme for people who have convictions expunged under the Expungement of Historical Offences Act 2017.
• Development of a strategy to increase the use and effectiveness of police diversion programs for youth offenders.
• Introduce targeted violence (hate crime) legislation.
• Funding for legal outreach services to regional areas.
• Introduce programs to educate Tasmanian drivers at risk of offender/reoffending.
  

Diversity and inclusion make Tasmania a better place. Every LGBTIQA+ Tasmanian deserves to live freely, authentically, and without fear of discrimination or prejudice.

What we’ve done

The Tasmanian Greens were the first party in Tasmania to support the decriminalisation of homosexuality and cross-dressing, and the first to table a Significant Relationships bill, an Anti-Discrimination Bill and a Same-Sex Marriage Bill. We have also been at the forefront of LGBTIQA+ inclusion in schools and health care.

Working with advocates and across the Parliament, we were part of introducing and passing world-leading gender-affirmation laws in 2019. In 2024 we got very close to the introduction of a nation-leading redress scheme for people who were convicted under former laws against homosexuality and cross-dressing, and we look forward to progress this again in the new term.

We continue to be the strongest voice in Parliament for the rights of LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians and are committed to pursuing the reforms needed to end discrimination and achieve real equality.

Our plan

• Establish a real ban on sexual orientation and gender identity conversion practices, fully implementing the recommendations of the TLRI.
• Increase funding for LGBTIQA+ mental health support and school inclusion programs.
• Establish a compensation scheme for people who have convictions expunged under the Expungement of Historical Offences Act 2017.
• Implement an LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Act, including a LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Commissioner.
• Introduce targeted violence (hate crime) legislation.
• Deliver a dedicated LGBTIQA+ community mental health service, LGBTIQA+ community legal service and a community LGBTIQA+ healthcare centre.
• Prohibit medically unnecessary interventions on children with innate variations of sex characteristics.
• Increase funding for the LGBTIQA+ Community Fund to $200,000 per year.
• Fund programs to reduce the levels of housing risk and substance abuse in Tasmania’s LGBTIQA+ community.
• Establish a Tasmanian LGBTIQA+ Staff Pride Network across the public sector.
• Push for the necessary changes to  allow gay and bisexual men, transgender women and non-binary people who have sex with men to donate whole blood as is the case in Canada, the UK, France and Israel.

Animals are sentient beings that have the ability to feel and to suffer. But despite the Greens’ efforts to make change, that’s still not recognised by Tasmanian law. In fact, the Tasmanian government has shown they’re not willing to enforce the weak laws we already have, let alone strengthen them to stop animal cruelty and neglect.

Whether it’s the systemic cruelty exposed in Tasmanian slaughterhouses, the shameful treatment of animals in the racing industry, or the legal killing of hundreds of thousands of native animals each year, there is evidence everywhere that change is desperately needed.

While Liberal and Labor politicians continue to turn a blind eye to animal cruelty, the Greens are fighting to protect animals and their rights.

What we have done

The last time the Greens were in the balance of power we successfully negotiated a ban on 1080, a phase-out of sow stalls and battery hen farming, we delivered stronger animal rights laws and pushed for government services to only buy free-range eggs.

In 2015, we initiated the Inquiry into Greyhound Racing and have continued to lobby for an end to this cruel industry.

In 2022, we also tried to amend the Animal Welfare Act to include mandatory CCTV monitoring in slaughterhouses, but this was blocked by Labor and the Liberals.

Our plan

• Reform the Animal Welfare Act 1993 to strengthen standards, monitoring, compliance, and penalties, as well as enshrining animal sentience.
• Establish an independent Animal Welfare Commission, with strong powers.
• Ban greyhound racing, rodeos, and native duck hunting in Tasmania.
• Reinstitute a ban on 1080 poison.
• Fully fund the RSPCA for 100% of Tasmania’s inspectorate work.
• Phase-out factory farming, including battery hen farming and beak trimming, and a complete ban on sow stalls.
• Introduce strong regulatory requirements for slaughterhouses, including mandatory, independently monitored CCTV and incident reporting frameworks.
• Review dog breeding regulations and ban puppy farms.
• Increased funding to animal rights and rehoming organisations.
• End taxpayer funded subsidies to the racing industry.

The Greens understand a vibrant, healthy, and prosperous community means valuing every person for who they are. Everyone has human rights, and these rights must always be respected.

People should be able to access the services they need, regardless of where they live, their gender, race, income, sexuality or ability. In a wealthy nation like Australia, no-one should be left behind.

What we’ve done

The last time the Greens were in the balance of power we strengthened the law to better protect older Tasmanians, established an Elder Abuse Help Line, delivered training in elder abuse prevention to community and public health workers and funded a statewide advertising and awareness raising campaign.

Greens ministers provided an additional $3 million for students with disability, a new rights-based Disability Services Act, and worked with governments and the disability sector to launch the NDIS.

Our plan

• Introduce a Human Rights Act for Tasmania and establish a Human Rights Commission.
• Extend elder abuse prevention and awareness programs.
• A program to support new migrants and international students to join the workforce.
• A Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction Framework and Toolkit.
• Extend concessions currently available to Pensioner Concession Card holders, to Veteran Card holders.
• Match Commonwealth funding ($1.8 million) to RSL Tasmania’s Acute Housing Program.
• Invest $1.2 million per year in the VeteranHub, providing wellbeing support, advocacy, and employment assistance to Veterans.
  
• Funding to improve disability access to beaches and other public sites.
• End ‘sports rorts’ styled pork-barreling grants, providing for independently assessed community infrastructure grants.
• Ensure building maintenance costs are included in core funding grants to arts organisations, and ensure grants are multi-year to allow for certainty and proper planning.
• Provide energy efficiency upgrade grants to community groups.
• Investigate options and take steps to ensure artists have a right to fair pay for their work.
• Provide structural independence and autonomy to Government-run arts organisations to remove political interference.
• Invest in creative spaces across the Tasmania.
• Support efforts to ensure that freedom of expression is central in all forms of art.
• Double arts grants to individuals and increase grants to organisations by 50%.
• Update Metro Tasmania’s Disability Action Plan.
• Expand the Transport Access Scheme to include rideshare.

Tasmanians should be able to have a say about what happens in their community, but Liberal and Labor politicians have spent years trying to undermine this basic principle.

While the major parties rake in big corporate donations and prioritise the interests of developers and the top end of town, the Greens have remained a strong and consistent voice for everyday people.

We understand the importance of local representation, proper process, transparency and the right to appeal decisions – and we will work to restore these elements to the planning system.

What we’ve done

We strongly opposed the Liberals’ attempts to undermine the voices of community in planning – including the ‘major projects’ legislation, development assessment panels, and the statewide planning scheme.

We have been a consistent voice for communities threatened by inappropriate development, and helped put a stop to projects like the Northern Prison at Westbury, the huge luxury hotel at Kangaroo Bay, and the Cambria Green mega-development.

Our plan

• Keep planning decisions in the hands of councils.
• Reform the planning system to make planning independent, protect local character, and empower communities.
• Return decision, policy making, and advisory powers to the Tasmanian Planning Commission.
• Establish a biodiversity monitoring program, as well as maintaining critical biodiversity overlays.
• Establishment of a Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor Housing Development Authority to facilitate housing and urban growth projects along the northern transit corridor.
• Appoint a Chief Engineer, State Architect and State Demographer.
• Develop State Policies on climate change, public consultation, settlement, transport and infrastructure, health and wellbeing, biodiversity and cultural preservation.
• Reform regulations to support innovative housing options like tiny homes.
• Provide parliament with the power to disallow the sale of public land.
• Make transport options part of the planning for new homes so that everyone is close to public and alternate transport.
• Require seller transparency about property condition by introducing a mandatory property disclosure system.

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