Dr WOODRUFF question to PREMIER, Mr ROCKLIFF
You have been happy to write a blank cheque to the AFL for a stadium that is not wanted, not needed and would be loss-making. You treat taxpayer dollars like Monopoly money for your pet projects. When it comes to funding the critical needs of the community, your purse strings are pulled tight. The Government has committed to building 10 000 homes by 2032, which is welcome, but we understand you have massively underfunded this plan.
Can you confirm that Homes Tasmania has advised you that the $1.5 billion you have committed to your housing strategy is entirely inadequate and that delivering on your commitment will require at least $5 billion, if not $6 billion, of investment?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I thank the member for Franklin for question. I reject the premise of your question that we do not invest in critical areas of need within our community. Of course, we do. We have invested $12 billion in our health system - on average $8 million a day. In comparison with our investment in the stadium, for example, we spend over $375 million every 45 days on health, and our $1.5 billion investment in housing - 10 000 homes by 2032.
I am very proud of our previous minister, Mr Barnett, for the reform for Homes Tasmania, which you opposed. You are not prepared to make any tough decisions. You come in here and are not prepared to make the tough calls. You are all about politics. We are about not only reforming and innovation in health, education and housing but also investing.
Dr WOODRUFF - Mr Speaker, point of order, Standing Order 45, relevance. The Premier is going off on a tangent. Can he please tell the House whether it is true that Homes Tasmania has advised that?
Mr SPEAKER - I will accept the point of order on Standing Order 45, relevance. I remind the Premier of that. However, it is not an opportunity to re-ask the question or interject.
Mr ROCKLIFF - We have over 980 homes in our pipeline of work being rolled out and our long-term plan is to deliver 10 000 new social and affordable homes by 2032. This is the most ambitious housing program in Tasmania's history. A record number of homes were delivered in June this year - over 300. This is backed up by CommSec: we are once again leading the nation on dwelling approvals and the economy.
You can chuckle all you like, Dr Broad, the meaningless chuckle that it was. You might want to remember what your party did when you were last in power between 2010 and 2014, when young people fled the state and we were in recession. We have turned Tasmania around, we are proud of it and we have more to do.