Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Leader
The Tasmanian Liberals’ appalling track record on healthcare, housing, and the environment is coming home to roost, and apparently all the Liberals have left to defend themselves are lies and attacks.
The past nine years have seen the challenges facing Tasmania either ignored or made worse by a government that’s more interested in looking after themselves, their mates, and big corporations.
In the face of increasing pressure in both Parliament and the community on a plethora of crucial issues, you’d think the Liberals might start listening to these concerns and taking genuine steps to address them.
Instead of moving to fix the serious challenges facing Tasmania and its people, the Premier and his government have resorted to jamming their fingers in their ears, closing their eyes, and repeating the same old tired attacks on opposition parties.
Worse yet, in recent months we’ve also seen the Liberals resort more and more frequently to good old-fashioned dishonesty and deceit, attempting to pull the wool over Tasmanians’ eyes.
The latest example of the Rockliff government’s perfidy is Energy Minister Guy Barnett, who refuses to admit he lied to Tasmanians during a radio interview, and doubled down on his untruthfulness in Parliament.
This isn’t Mr Barnett’s first offence, nor is it an anomaly for this government. Multiple Ministers and the Premier himself have made a habit of routinely misleading Parliament, and they never admit fault.
Nine years of government tells us it’s clearly too much to ask the Liberals to govern in the interests of all Tasmanians, but at the very least they could be honest with the public about their decisions and their record.