Media Release

Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Treasurer

Saturday 13th February 2010

Bartlett’s budget black hole

Before the election was even called, the Premier has already blown the budget.

Yesterday, the Premier was shifty and evasive on how he is going to fund his big spending. The $90 million road spending package is not included in the Mid Year Financial Report and nor is there any mention of the up to $50 million that may be needed to fund the purchase of the Burnie hospital.

The Premier must explain to fund these promises if he is going to cut services or whether he is going to take Tasmania back into net debt.

The Premier is treating Tasmanians like fools if he thinks they don’t understand what he is up to. He threw fiscal responsibility out the window a long time ago and now will do and say anything to cling to power.

The Premier has become an economic menace and his recent announcements will plague Tasmania for decades to come if he is re-elected.

The Mid Year Financial Report shows the record spending already announced by the Premier will take us to within $60 million of going back into net debt. If you add in the $90 million promised by the Premier for roads last weekend as well as up to $50 million needed to buy back the Burnie Hospital then it’s clear we will go back into net debt. The only alternative for the Premier is to cut services.

So which is it, Premier? Where is the money coming from? How will it be funded? If the Premier can’t answer this question, then he has absolutely no financial credibility.

What’s also clear is that the Treasurer is not up to the job. He’s incompetent, he has failed at every policy he’s tried to get up and his track record in any other Government in Tasmania’s history would have seen him get the sack long ago. His only saving grace was that he could always rely on other Ministers being worse than him.

It’s not much of a record and I hope that Tasmanians remember that as the election campaign commences in earnest.