Labor’s backflip on closing the Office of the Coordinator-General is welcome.
Labor, however, must now explain how it will fund the Office given its Economic Directions Statement cuts the budget by $8 million.
Labor Leader Bec White and Denison MP Scott Bacon cannot continue trying to get away with saying one thing, but doing another.
Labor must be held to account and stop playing politics on the issue.
In today’s Examiner Scott Bacon said: “Labor has not proposed the closure of the Launceston office (of the Coordinator-General)”.
Yet on page 28 of its Economic Directions Statement it states: “Labor will abolish the role of Coordinator General” and in its financial statements cuts $2.7 million each year in its forward estimates (page 40).
Then again, in Parliament earlier this year, Mr Bacon said: “We will abolish the offices of Coordinator-General and Infrastructure Tasmania and better integrate their functions in government, as we believe they have not provided value for Tasmanian taxpayers.” Hansard May 30, 2017.
Ms White has also been contradictory on the subject. On Tasmania Talks she said: “We have decided that the money that is spent on the Coordinator General’s office, which is $2.7 million a year, could be better directed to fund regional economic development officers right across the state.” Sept 26, 2017.
It is clear Labor is flip flopping on the issue, depending on who they are talking to.