Tasmania should not be further penalised by the Commonwealth should the State Liberals uphold their public commitments to not sell off assets, including energy assets or ports, Greens Leader and Treasury spokesperson Kim Booth MP said today.
“The Greens expect Will Hodgman will live up to his previous public commitments and resist this shameful cash-for assets lure being dangled by Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott,” Mr Booth said.
“Tasmanians cannot afford to have the farm sold out from beneath us.”
“We are already having to absorb the huge annual income loss of at least $70 million to $100 million due to the Liberals’ ideological fixation on removing the carbon tax.”
“Abbott’s one-off- offer of $600 million does not fill the gaping hole of the annual $70 - $100 million the State was projected to receive via Hydro Tasmania.”
“Over ten years that is almost $1 billion in income that has been stripped from Tasmania’s ledger by the Federal Liberals but also cheered on by Peter Gutwein and Will Hodgman,” Mr Booth said.