TASSIE’S NEW RESOLUTION

LET’S ALL AGREE IT’S TIME TO PLAN OUR FUTURE

WELCOME to 2018. It’s a year that promises to be the most exciting — but also critical — in Tasmania’s modern history.

Within weeks we will elect a government to preside over a state wrestling with how to balance the opportunities in front of us with the need to protect what makes us unique.

And so, as Tasmanians right across this great state wake this morning to blurry heads and new resolutions, the Mer-

cury kicks off a reader-led conversation about the future. It will be a conversation about what sort of a place we want this to be — and what needs to be done over the next four critical years to get us there.

There really has never been a more exciting time to be a Tasmanian. The right attitude and policy settings will put us on course for a bright future, but we have to get it right.

For 18-year-olds Isabella Al- corso, Amy Pailthorpe and Charlotte Young (pictured), the critical challenge will be to ensure there are plenty of job opportunities here — to keep our young people at home.

WHICHEVER party wins the upcoming state election should not simply “mind the store” but be “imaginative and bold” in its ideas and reforms, says top economist Saul Eslake.

In his 2017 Tasmania Report for the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Eslake says that while the state’s economic performance could hold its own with other states, we should be doing better.

“The economic and social challenges facing Tasmania over the next four years and well beyond cannot be addressed by a government which has sought a mandate for doing nothing more than ‘minding the store’, however competently they promise to do that,” Mr Eslake wrote in his report.

“Tasmania has made some genuine and tangible progress in recent years. There is a greater sense of optimism about what may be possible.

“This is a moment in Tasmania’s history where those who seek to shape its future should be imaginative and bold, rather than cautious or timid. It is a time, to paraphrase Robert Kennedy, to think of what could be and ask why not?”

Mr Eslake’s report floats a broadening of payroll tax to include all small businesses and the sale or lease of TasNetworks, Aurora Energy, the Motor Accidents Insurance Board and/or TasPorts as just two ways the next state government could be bold in terms of reforms that would drive the economy. But they are just two ideas, from one economist.

The way forward for the state should be a conversation that includes everybody who wants to take part — from publicans to politicians and academics to labourers.

This is too critical a time in the state’s history to leave the future to chance.

The Liberal Party has already released a 43-point plan for the state called Building Your Future. Labor’s economic direction statement outlines 10 promises.

But neither includes much in the way of the beyond the horizon thinking which Mr Eslake says is vital.

There is also a concern that Labor leader Rebecca White might be planning a small-target strategy to contest the election — due in March — while the Premier will campaign on his record.

Tasmania deserves — and needs — more.

From today, the Mercury and Sunday Tasmanian will run a special editorial campaign that will focus on this longerterm thinking.

Over the next two weeks, our team of reporters will deliver a deep dive into a particular area every day in the newspaper and on our website, with the reporting supported by opinion pieces from industry leaders.

The areas to be covered will include the development versus conservation debate, how we can best share the wealth across our state, and how we can best fire up business and employment outcomes to narrow the gap between us and the mainland.

We will examine the costof-living pressures facing Tasmanians, how technology is helping grow agribusiness in this state and how best we can meet the needs of population growth.

Along the way we will look at arts and culture, law and order, education, health and aged care, tourism and sport, and consider how we can protect our lifestyle.

We have also polled our readers to get an even wider understanding of the views of Tasmanians.

Many have expressed their concerns about housing affordability and general cost of living, creating a culture that values education, ending nepotism and increasing transparency in government and the public sector and amalgamating councils.

As one reader writes: “The government must make some hard choices — pay off the bills, help business prosper with investment and employment, reward those who are willing to work hard, make Hobart a larger and thriving capital.”

And another: “The Tasmanian government must govern for the greater good of the majority of people in Tasmania in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way. The gap between rich and poor is too great. The place has to be more affordable from a costof-living perspective. Tasmania is grossly overgoverned at a huge cost.”

Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Michael Bailey said change was desperately needed and that Mr Eslake’s report was a good starting point.

“Some of the things he has raised as needing to change are difficult, but it’s just about putting it out there in the com- munity and having the discussions,” Mr Bailey said.

Mona founder David Walsh is another proud Tasmanian who has strong views on the future of this state.

In an opinion piece to run in full this Sunday, Mr Walsh writes of his concern that Mona’s success could give suc- cessive governments an excuse to “shirk their responsibility to the arts”.

“The investment in Mona [hotel, extensions] will more than double in the next five years [council, cash, community and credit permitting],” he writes.

“That’ll grow Mona’s cul- tural activity by about a factor of three, but there is a limit to how many visitors Mona — and perhaps Hobart — can handle.”

We invite all Tasmanians to join the debate from January 1, 2018 — perhaps the most significant year in the modern history of our state.