Jeremy Rockliff

Premier of Tasmania



13 May 2020

Elise Archer, Minister for Building and Construction

Now is not the time for Labor’s petty politics

The Tasmanian Government is committed to the task at hand of supporting all Tasmanians through the COVID-19 crisis.

Labor can offer up as much ‘advice’ as it pleases, but as we have said time and time again, we will take our advice from the experts who have the best interests of Tasmanian communities at heart.

Claims from the Shadow Building and Construction spokesperson, Jen Butler that special exemptions are being granted to interstate workers at the expense of local jobs are alarmist and counter-productive to our aim of working together to minimise the devastating impacts currently being felt by many Tasmanians.

The State Controller assesses applications against a set of criteria. When it comes to specialised workers, applications must be supported by documentation as evidence that the specialist skillsets are not available in Tasmania and the skill-set is required for time-critical business continuity.

Labor needs to get with the program of helping to find solutions to the problems we are facing as a result of COVID-19 rather than spreading mistruths for pure political opportunism.

Now is not the time for petty politics.



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