Media Release

Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Treasurer

Sunday 7th March 2010

Greens’ fiscal credibility in tatters

The Greens’ fiscal credibility is in tatters following the release of their so-called Fiscal Strategy yesterday.

In fact, it was broken before it was even released.

In their fiscal strategy the Greens state they will “not introduce any new taxes”.

Yet on Friday Nick McKim and Kim Booth proudly announced a $3 per tonne levy on woodchips – a tax on the jobs they pretend to care for.

Other key “highlights” of the Green strategy include:

• Keeping the budget in operational deficit for an additional two years, calling into question their claim they won’t put the budget into net debt;
• Borrowing to fund their capital infrastructure promises; and, most concerningly
• “renegotiating corporate bulk electricity contracts in line with…the national market…”

This is Green code for forcing major employers such as Nystrar and Rio Tinto to pay more for their electricity, and would place hundreds of Tasmanian jobs at risk.

It also again highlights the Greens’ anti-industry dogma.

With the release of the TCCI spendometer on Friday, and the Greens’ strategy on Saturday, it is now clear that the Greens’ simply have no idea whatsoever when it comes to the crucial issue of managing our finances and our economy.

The only way Tasmanians can prevent the Greens getting their hands on the Treasury levers, and bankrupting the state, is to vote for a majority Hodgman Liberal Government.