Labor promises card limits

Vow to rein in rampant spending follows TasWater revelations

LABOR will limit the number of credit cards for some government workers and business enterprises if it wins majority government at the coming election amid growing concern over the rampant spending of public money.

However, it does not plan to roll out the policy to local government and TasWater — both of which have come under fire of late over their credit card expenses.

Labor says it instead hopes that TasWater and the state’s local councils will take note of the policy and self-regulate.

Right To Information documents obtained by the Mercury late last year showed that TasWater staff spent half a million dollars on credit card transactions last financial year, with 105 of the water and sewerage utility’s 850 staff holding company-issued cards.

Shadow treasurer Scott Bacon said Tasmanians need- ed to get “value for money” from public funds.

“What the Labor Party has put forward is based on advice from the Auditor-General that there be a clear policy on credit card use that is right across government, so you would see only senior executives or people making purchases as part of their role only holding credit cards,” he said.

In November last year, Auditor-General Rod Whitehead recommended a model policy for credit card use should be developed by the Local Government Division after “unusual” use was identified.

The Local Government Association of Tasmania has already started talks on the development of the policy.

Premier Will Hodgman said criticism of government spending was a “little rich” coming from the Labor Party which sent Tasmania into difficult times and proved it could not manage its finances.

“This policy, such as it is, has been plucked off the front page of a newspaper,” Mr Hodgman said. “I recognise concerns in the community about credit card spending.”

He said the Government believed TasWater could be run more efficiently.

“That’s why we wanted to take over TasWater but that was blocked. Labor’s so-called policy is just a cheap headline grabber,” he said.

In a letter to the Mercury recently, TasWater chief executive Mike Brewster said the amount spent and the number of cards issued reflected the scale of the utility’s operations.