$10m energy rebates

TREASURER Peter Gutwein has promised a record spend on infrastructure as he spruiks the first state Budget of the reelected Hodgman Government ahead of its reveal on Thursday.

This year’s Budget will include a $10m boost for industrial and commercial energy customers, with Energy Minister Guy Barnett announcing that rebates will be extended to business customers coming off contract for a further 12 months.

Mr Barnett said volatility in the national electricity market continued to have a significant impact on the wholesale price of power in Tasmania, and the rebate extension would help businesses that have been exposed to price increases.

Mr Gutwein yesterday said his latest Budget would invest strongly in health, education and looking after Tasmania’s vulnerable, after coming under pressure last week to fast track spending commitments for the under-stress health and housing sectors.

He also promised a record infrastructure spend in a Budget that would contain “surprises.”

Mr Gutwein and shadow Treasurer Scott Bacon have been trading barbs over the upcoming Budget, with Mr Gutwein calling Mr Bacon “lazy and incompetent” over his decision not to hand down an alternative Budget.

Labor will instead set out an economic vision for Tasmania, as the party has done in previous years.

Mr Bacon was yesterday reiterating calls for the Government to provide alternative projections in the Budget, based on the possibility that Tasmania’s share of the GST could change when the Federal Government makes a decision on a Productivity Commission report into GST distribution.

Mr Bacon questioned whether Mr Gutwein had been briefed on the report by federal Treasurer Scott Morrison.

Mr Gutwein said he had not been briefed by Mr Morrison, and had not seen the Productivity Commission report.

He said there was certainty over Tasmania’s share of the GST for the 2018-19 financial year, with a guarantee from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that the state would not lose a cent under any change to the distribution method.

The Tasmanian Small Business Council’s Robert Mallett welcomed news that the energy rebate would be extended.