The Tasmanian Liberal Government has a plan for our State’s future.
We will support our regions to thrive by taking a people-focused, customer service approach across Government, while drawing on our values to support every Tasmanian to reach their full potential.
Since 2014, our Government has turned the State’s economy on its head after 16 years going backwards under Labor.
Our policy actions have made Tasmania more prosperous, safer and a better place to receive an education.
Over the past five years our economic growth outstripped all the other states.
We held the top performing economic mantle throughout COVID as we took nation-leading steps to keep our economy stimulated, and recent CommSec data shows that other states are now playing catch-up.
Our unprecedented investment in housing, together with our substantial investment in infrastructure, is not only helping to meet strong demand and build better services, safer roads and more connected communities, but also providing the construction sector a sturdy pipeline of certainty and work.
Tasmania’s labour market has continued to strengthen over the past year.
And incredibly, there are close to 30,000 more Tasmanian jobs now than when we came to Government in 2014.
Our strong employment conditions have seen Tasmania’s unemployment rate fall to historically low levels and our economy is expected to continue to grow over this financial year.
Through strengthening our economy and sound fiscal management, we’ve been able to invest in the areas that matter to Tasmanians.
Tasmanians’ priorities will continue to be our priorities and the Government I lead will be proactive, responsive, trusted and accountable, as we build on the sturdy foundations laid over the past eight years.
As someone who knows the quiet resilience of our regions, I understand how lives and livelihoods are made or broken by good or bad political decision making.
Our regions and their industry are the engine rooms of our state, with each having key strengths and advantages with significant potential to attract new investment, expand business and drive their economies forward.
With so much interest in Tasmania we need to ensure every region has a targeted growth strategy and the support required to harness those advantages.
We intend to establish Regional Strategic Partnerships around Tasmania with a focus on expanding businesses, growing industry, building more homes, having essential services and supports, the skills and training required, and developing our regions in line with their needs.
Made between the Tasmanian Government and LGAT, the Regional Partnerships will set a 20-year framework, vision and direction for planning and land use.
The aim is to have each Partnership completed by the end of 2023, to feed into the 2024-25 Budget process, working directly with local areas to determine what it is they need to accelerate growth and jobs.
As a Government, we must unlock economic opportunities across our regions, and ensure we have the education and training, infrastructure, technology, supports and services those regions need.
Tasmania can compete on a national and global level. We have enviable resources, products and lifestyle and we have generational game-changing opportunities ahead.
Our Government is one with integrity and heart and, above all, we will fight for this State. We will be decisive and take action where and when it needs to be taken.
We’re investing more than ever before into education, skills and training, because we believe every Tasmanian has the right to a world-class education, and we have recruited 435 more teachers since 2014.
Early learning experiences improve outcomes for young Tasmanians and that’s why our Government introduced Working Together – an early learning initiative that supports eligible three-year-olds to access free, high-quality early learning in Early Childhood Education and Care settings in the year before kindergarten.
Since 2019, Working Together has enabled over 400 children to access early learning through 19 partner Early Childhood Education and Care services.
However, we believe there is more to do.
Today, I announced commencing in 2024, we will complement the delivery of Working Together in Early Childhood Education and Care by expanding its delivery to Child and Family Learning Centres.
In areas where there are no Early Childhood providers, or Child and Family Learning Centres, we will also explore how early learning in the year before kindergarten can be delivered on a school site or at a local library, where there is the community support and will to do so.
Our Government wants Tasmania to be able to provide universal access to pre-school, in the year before kindergarten, for every child, to help set them up for a great start in life and learning.
Tasmania deserves no less opportunity than anywhere else in this country and if anything, we have demonstrated that we can do things better.
Two-thirds of Australians say they will pay more for anything Tasmanian. They believe, rightly, that what we can offer in produce, in manufacturing, in technology and in the arts is uniquely different.
Or as we say, the quiet pursuit of the extraordinary.
Together we will keep making Tasmania the best place to live, to get an education, to raise a family, to get a job, to invest and do business – no matter what part of the state you call home.