After three years of cuts and neglecting community services, the fourth Hodgman Budget focuses on extinguishing spot fires of community concern and scatters money around like confetti in the lead up to the election.
This is a Budget that's bloated with pork.
The more you look at this Budget, the more cynical you become. It’s very clear that it is designed to help the Liberals buy their way to the next election.
The Budget is full of false promises. One of the worst is that it will lower the cost of living through one year of power price relief and water and sewerage legislation that is yet to be seen.
There’s a big health promise, but in their first budget the Liberals cut $210M from the health system. Staff were lost, services were cut and the money that’s going in now only begins to repair some of that damage.
The Liberals claim they will deliver 7,600 jobs for young Tasmanians in this Budget, but they’ve provided absolutely no evidence to back that up and the measures that have been put in place are, sadly for young Tasmanians, unlikely to deliver improved skills' and job prospects.
This is a Budget that lacks courage and vision, and is designed explicitly to quieten concerned stakeholders who have been burned by three years of underfunding.
We are glad to see some extra funding go to the community sector. It's about time. For those who believe this Budget is a win, remember the past three years, and the 2014 Budget.
We encourage all Tasmanians to think about what the next Hodgman Budget would be like if the Liberals win majority government once again.
