Unions flag walk offs over 'Musk-like' saving measures
Unions could take industrial action against flagged privatisations and "Elon Musk-like" public service cuts contained in a Liberal state budget.
Tasmania's government is investigating whether eight government-owned entities, including bus operator Metro and power provider TasNetworks, should be sold.
The Liberals, who inherited no debt when they came to power in 2014, will more than double debt to almost $10.8 billion by 2028/29.
Interest repayments debt is expected to rise to almost $650 million a year by 2028/29, according to Thursday's budget.
The government wants to cut 2500 state service jobs by 2033 and has set up an "efficiency unit" to find public sector savings of $150 million a year.
"The irony of the government setting up a new team to cut waste is not lost on us," Unions Tasmania secretary Jessica Munday said on Friday.
"It seems like the government has ripped off Elon Musk and brought it to Tasmania."
Mr Musk was in charge of a body tasked with reducing spending as part of US President Donald Trump's government.
Ms Munday said cuts of 2500 would have a big impact on services in a state of Tasmania's size. She didn't rule out protest strikes.
"We will do whatever is necessary to protect not only members' jobs but defend services provided to the community," she said.
Treasurer Guy Barnett says his budget charts a sensible path to surplus, despite no surpluses being contained across four years of forward estimates.
"We are very focused on delivering frontline services to Tasmania that need it. We have a 12 per cent increase in health funding," he told reporters.
Mr Barnett also spruiked $9.9 billion in education spending and record cost-of-living support.
Head of social services body TasCOSS, Adrienne Picone, said the Liberals had lost sight of real issues in pursuit of a $945 million new Hobart stadium.
"A new stadium won't help Tasmanians living on low incomes feed their family and get their foot into the housing market," she said.
"We're also concerned the level of debt we're taking on to fund infrastructure projects is severely impacting the funding available to deliver essential services.
"We are aware of many community services organisations who will be cutting hours, cutting staff, changing services delivery and cutting services completely."
Mr Barnett said the government would have more to say in coming months about potential state-owned business sales, following a review by economist Saul Eslake.
The government has taken the sale of some businesses, including Bass Strait ferry operator TT-Line, off the table.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
5 hours ago
- The Age
The obscene priorities in education funding
Heartbreak high I am both heartbroken and furious to learn that the Labor Allan government is choosing to short-change Victorian state school students. The reality at the coalface of under-resourced schools is heartbreaking. Parents might be wondering why their child has a shared class or doesn't have a school nurse or librarian. This is the reality of schools working under a decade-long funding deficit. Teachers are pushed to teach their maximum face-to-face allotment (making up any extra time by moonlighting as a nurse, librarian or team teaching to ensure no minute is left idle). When these overworked teachers are sick, schools are routinely redistributing students to other teachers, pushing class sizes into the 30s. Teachers are being pressed to 'volunteer' to take extra classes to cover absences, anything, to reduce the school's spend on casual teachers. Jacinta Allan pointing to increases in capital funding is a furphy. The building of a hall (projects green lit to help COVID recovery) does nothing to help the tired teachers and undersupported students sitting down to Monday morning assembly. The added insult is watching students walk to the campuses of private schools carrying their full funding allocation to pre-class swimming training in an Olympic-sized pool. Kate Rose, teacher, Rosanna Electoral favours That the Victorian government will provide, as part of an extended drought package, a $5000 grant to Victorian farmers to help their family businesses pull through the temporary drought is laudable. I look forward to similar benevolence to the family-owned milk bars and local butcher businesses facing competition from their local mega-supermarket rivals; or the local family-owned hardware stores and nursery businesses facing challenges from the encroaching DIY megastores; or the family-owned gift shops, florists, clothing and toy shops facing devastation from the expanding big box chains. Why do farming small businesses get favourable government attention? I suspect it's all about electoral politics. Dennis Richards, Cockatoo What's the point? I wish to add my voice to the letters in The Age (30/5) despairing the decision to extend the North West Shelf project. So many of us are trying our hardest to reduce plastic, compost, save water, live sustainably in every way we can with future generations in mind, and it is a huge slap in the face that makes one feel 'what is the point?' Goodness knows what the despair of Indigenous communities is like. Libby Gillingham, Outtrim Yesterday's man It may have escaped Tony Abbott's notice that he is a ″yesterday's man″, which is a nice way of saying he is living in the past. Sussan Ley should ignore him. He is one of the cadre of Liberals, mostly ex-PMs, who are becoming more out of touch with ordinary Australians. Victoria is showing the effects of a poor opposition and listening to conservative Liberals won't improve matters. Adrian Tabor, Point Lonsdale Heed the regions Waleed Aly (Comment, 30/5) has a vision where the National Party becomes a bit teal, and therefore enables the Coalition to compete politically with Labor. It won't happen. Urban Australia needs regional Australia more than vice versa. They feed Australia's cities. They dig the coal and minerals that keep the economy ticking over and Australia's export income high. We repay them with second-rate healthcare, a food market that is stacked against producers, and a steady flow of city refugees who make regional housing unaffordable to locals. If we urbanites occupy their minds at all, what they would see is a bunch of hypocrites who ramble on about the post-carbon economy but in international terms are heavy carbon polluters. Maybe the teals and other city-driven politicians could pay a great deal more attention to regional Australia. Then they might listen to us. Alun Breward, Malvern East Changing Australia Waleed Aly is spot on, especially with the changing demographic of Melbourne's regions. George Megalogenis also noted in his Foreign Affairs essay 'Changing Face of Australia″ that the children of Chinese and Indian migrants are also better educated than those from an Anglo background and this has allowed them to be part of the middle class too. These skilled migrants are a dilemma for some in the major parties who don't acknowledge and understand the nation's changing identity and are still stuck in that Anglo past with a lack of diversity in their candidates. This class divide between the white working classes was reflected in voting patterns as well, especially in the outer suburbs. Mel Smith, Brighton Soul of humanity As a non-religious person, I was moved by Sunday's Faith column (25/5) by Warwick McFadyen where he discussed the virtues of the The Piano. I agree with everything he said and I congratulate the ABC for having produced it. My view, which I believe coincides well with McFadyen's, is 'that music is the soul of humanity'.
AU Financial Review
9 hours ago
- AU Financial Review
Liberals win Goldstein as ousted MP hints at comeback
Liberal Tim Wilson has won a hard-fought election battle against teal independent Zoe Daniel, with the defeated MP hinting at a potential rematch. The former member for Goldstein won back the seat in Melbourne's bayside with a final margin of 175 votes following a partial recount of ballots, the Australian Electoral Commission announced on Saturday.
The Advertiser
9 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Liberals win close seat as ousted MP hints at comeback
Liberal Tim Wilson has won a hard-fought election battle against teal independent Zoe Daniel, with the defeated MP hinting at a potential rematch. The former member for Goldstein won back the seat in Melbourne's bayside with a final margin of 175 votes following a partial recount of ballots, the Australian Electoral Commission announced on Saturday. Mr Wilson took to social media to thank all Goldstein voters, including those who made efforts to vote overseas. "After 29 days of counting, I understand the final recount margin in Goldstein is 177, with 50,232 Liberal primaries which is 14,697 more than the former MP," he said on X. "Now the recount is finished, the result is clear, it is time to get on with the job and take the voice and values of Goldstein to shape the future of Australia: and that's precisely what I will do every day in service." Ms Daniel has called Mr Wilson to congratulate him on his win and offered commiserations to her volunteers and supporters. "Goldstein is now a vastly different seat to the one he once sat in - about as marginal as it gets - and with that comes embedded accountability," she said. "Changing systems of power is hard. Two steps forward is sometimes followed by one back. "It's a resilience test, and it's a reason to get back up and keep fighting." The defeated first-term MP praised her team's integrity and humanity, saying they did not seek to "divide" or resort to "attack advertising, misinformation, disinformation, dirty tricks or personal attacks". Ms Daniel ended her post on X with: "See you in 2028? Maybe!" The AEC conducted a partial recount at the request of Ms Daniel after the final count had Mr Wilson 260 votes ahead. The change in margin was attributed to scrutineers challenging the formality of some ballots and a data entry error that was picked up in the recount. "The partial recount has been a methodical and highly transparent process with all counting activities throughout the entire counting period occurring in front of candidate-appointed scrutineers," the commission said Mr Wilson, who lost to Ms Daniel in the 2022 election, is the only Liberal candidate to gain a seat at the election, where the coalition suffered its worst result in 80 years, securing about 43 seats in the House of Representatives. A recount continues in the northern Sydney electorate of Bradfield, where Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian is narrowly ahead of independent Nicolette Boele. Liberal Tim Wilson has won a hard-fought election battle against teal independent Zoe Daniel, with the defeated MP hinting at a potential rematch. The former member for Goldstein won back the seat in Melbourne's bayside with a final margin of 175 votes following a partial recount of ballots, the Australian Electoral Commission announced on Saturday. Mr Wilson took to social media to thank all Goldstein voters, including those who made efforts to vote overseas. "After 29 days of counting, I understand the final recount margin in Goldstein is 177, with 50,232 Liberal primaries which is 14,697 more than the former MP," he said on X. "Now the recount is finished, the result is clear, it is time to get on with the job and take the voice and values of Goldstein to shape the future of Australia: and that's precisely what I will do every day in service." Ms Daniel has called Mr Wilson to congratulate him on his win and offered commiserations to her volunteers and supporters. "Goldstein is now a vastly different seat to the one he once sat in - about as marginal as it gets - and with that comes embedded accountability," she said. "Changing systems of power is hard. Two steps forward is sometimes followed by one back. "It's a resilience test, and it's a reason to get back up and keep fighting." The defeated first-term MP praised her team's integrity and humanity, saying they did not seek to "divide" or resort to "attack advertising, misinformation, disinformation, dirty tricks or personal attacks". Ms Daniel ended her post on X with: "See you in 2028? Maybe!" The AEC conducted a partial recount at the request of Ms Daniel after the final count had Mr Wilson 260 votes ahead. The change in margin was attributed to scrutineers challenging the formality of some ballots and a data entry error that was picked up in the recount. "The partial recount has been a methodical and highly transparent process with all counting activities throughout the entire counting period occurring in front of candidate-appointed scrutineers," the commission said Mr Wilson, who lost to Ms Daniel in the 2022 election, is the only Liberal candidate to gain a seat at the election, where the coalition suffered its worst result in 80 years, securing about 43 seats in the House of Representatives. A recount continues in the northern Sydney electorate of Bradfield, where Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian is narrowly ahead of independent Nicolette Boele. Liberal Tim Wilson has won a hard-fought election battle against teal independent Zoe Daniel, with the defeated MP hinting at a potential rematch. The former member for Goldstein won back the seat in Melbourne's bayside with a final margin of 175 votes following a partial recount of ballots, the Australian Electoral Commission announced on Saturday. Mr Wilson took to social media to thank all Goldstein voters, including those who made efforts to vote overseas. "After 29 days of counting, I understand the final recount margin in Goldstein is 177, with 50,232 Liberal primaries which is 14,697 more than the former MP," he said on X. "Now the recount is finished, the result is clear, it is time to get on with the job and take the voice and values of Goldstein to shape the future of Australia: and that's precisely what I will do every day in service." Ms Daniel has called Mr Wilson to congratulate him on his win and offered commiserations to her volunteers and supporters. "Goldstein is now a vastly different seat to the one he once sat in - about as marginal as it gets - and with that comes embedded accountability," she said. "Changing systems of power is hard. Two steps forward is sometimes followed by one back. "It's a resilience test, and it's a reason to get back up and keep fighting." The defeated first-term MP praised her team's integrity and humanity, saying they did not seek to "divide" or resort to "attack advertising, misinformation, disinformation, dirty tricks or personal attacks". Ms Daniel ended her post on X with: "See you in 2028? Maybe!" The AEC conducted a partial recount at the request of Ms Daniel after the final count had Mr Wilson 260 votes ahead. The change in margin was attributed to scrutineers challenging the formality of some ballots and a data entry error that was picked up in the recount. "The partial recount has been a methodical and highly transparent process with all counting activities throughout the entire counting period occurring in front of candidate-appointed scrutineers," the commission said Mr Wilson, who lost to Ms Daniel in the 2022 election, is the only Liberal candidate to gain a seat at the election, where the coalition suffered its worst result in 80 years, securing about 43 seats in the House of Representatives. A recount continues in the northern Sydney electorate of Bradfield, where Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian is narrowly ahead of independent Nicolette Boele. Liberal Tim Wilson has won a hard-fought election battle against teal independent Zoe Daniel, with the defeated MP hinting at a potential rematch. The former member for Goldstein won back the seat in Melbourne's bayside with a final margin of 175 votes following a partial recount of ballots, the Australian Electoral Commission announced on Saturday. Mr Wilson took to social media to thank all Goldstein voters, including those who made efforts to vote overseas. "After 29 days of counting, I understand the final recount margin in Goldstein is 177, with 50,232 Liberal primaries which is 14,697 more than the former MP," he said on X. "Now the recount is finished, the result is clear, it is time to get on with the job and take the voice and values of Goldstein to shape the future of Australia: and that's precisely what I will do every day in service." Ms Daniel has called Mr Wilson to congratulate him on his win and offered commiserations to her volunteers and supporters. "Goldstein is now a vastly different seat to the one he once sat in - about as marginal as it gets - and with that comes embedded accountability," she said. "Changing systems of power is hard. Two steps forward is sometimes followed by one back. "It's a resilience test, and it's a reason to get back up and keep fighting." The defeated first-term MP praised her team's integrity and humanity, saying they did not seek to "divide" or resort to "attack advertising, misinformation, disinformation, dirty tricks or personal attacks". Ms Daniel ended her post on X with: "See you in 2028? Maybe!" The AEC conducted a partial recount at the request of Ms Daniel after the final count had Mr Wilson 260 votes ahead. The change in margin was attributed to scrutineers challenging the formality of some ballots and a data entry error that was picked up in the recount. "The partial recount has been a methodical and highly transparent process with all counting activities throughout the entire counting period occurring in front of candidate-appointed scrutineers," the commission said Mr Wilson, who lost to Ms Daniel in the 2022 election, is the only Liberal candidate to gain a seat at the election, where the coalition suffered its worst result in 80 years, securing about 43 seats in the House of Representatives. A recount continues in the northern Sydney electorate of Bradfield, where Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian is narrowly ahead of independent Nicolette Boele.
