The Liberal Government is delivering on its promise to reduce spending on boards and committees and already we have identified almost $7 million in savings which will help us fix the Labor-Green budget mess.
Over the past 16 years, Labor handballed tough decisions to unelected boards and committees. We promised before the election to review boards and committees and find savings.
Under Labor and the Greens, the number of boards and committees blew out. It's estimated that the number peaked at around 150 boards and committees, with over 900 members. Overall, the Labor-Green Government was spending more than $10 million a year on boards and committees.
The Liberal Government will hand down its first budget next week and it will include almost $7 million in savings we have already identified through this process.
Sixteen boards and committees will be abolished, some as a result of amalgamations, while another 18 will have funding or membership reduced.
That means that over 20 per cent of all boards and committees will either be abolished, merged or have their membership reduced in our first budget. As part of the budget development process, each year we will look at the list of boards and committees and look for additional savings.
A full list of the boards and committees affected will be included in next week's budget.
Every board and committee will be expected to play its part. Those members who are paid for sitting on a board or committee will also be subject to a pay pause, which will save hundreds of thousands of dollars.
We will continue to rein in spending as we look to get Tasmania's finances back on track.
Through strong financial management we will rebuild the budget, day by day, dollar by dollar. We will deliver on our promises, clean up the Labor-Green mess and lay the foundations for the future.