A missed opportunity

THE state budget has been labelled an “Enya” delivery when an “AC-DC” one was needed.

Industry leaders shared mixed messages about the post-pandemic budget with some labelling it an “eight out of 10” and others calling it a missed opportunity.

Tasmania Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Michael Bailey said while a “good” budget was handed down, the government missed the opportunity to restructure and reform.

“We were hoping to see changes and focuses in the back end from departments to make sure we could get infrastructure money out into the marketplace. We also wanted to see payroll addressed,” he said. “It’s a conservative budget that build son previous announcements. We were hoping for an AC-DC budget. What we got was an Enya budget.”

Community and Public Sector Union acting secretary Thirza White said the budget didn’t deliver enough jobs for the public sector.

“This is a real missed opportunity ,” she said.

“The public sector has guided us through the pandemic and it needs to be leading the reconstruction.”

Small Business Council of Tasmania chief executive Robert M all ett said the budget delivered “an enormous amount of opportunity for … small business people ”.

“Whether this is through renovating schools, police stations or other infrastructure projects the government has intended to spend money on,” hesaid.

“The other good thing is

IT PUTS CONSTRUCTION AT THE CENTRE OF OUR RECOVERY STRATEGY, IT PUTS CONSTRUCTION AS OUR ECONOMIC ACCELERATOR AND JOBS GENERATOR OVER THE NEXT FOUR YEARS

MASTER BUILDERS TASMANIA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MATTHEW POLLOCK

THIS BUDGET IS A CLEAR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BY THE TASMANIAN GOVERNMENT OF THE NEED TO CREATE AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM THAT SUPPORTS THE MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF ALL TASMANIANS

MENTAL HEALTH COUNCIL TASMANIA CEO CONNIE DIGOLIS

IT’S A BUDGET OBVIOUSLY FOCUSSED ON BUILDING AS OPPOSED TO DOING THINGS, WHICH IS PARTICULARLY AN ISSUE IN HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

HACSU TASMANIA SECRETARY TIM JACOBSON

INVESTMENT IN A SUSTAINABLE, AFFORDABLE HOUSING SYSTEM THAT ENSURES THAT EVERY TASMANIAN HAS THE HOME THEY NEED IS A GREAT VISION FOR TASMANIA

SHELTER TAS CEO PATTIE CHUGG

that the government has seen fit at last to provide support for businesses employing apprentices. Without trained apprentices, in four years’ time the state could be in dire need of well-trained staff.”

Police Association of Tasmania president Colin Riley labelled the budget an 8/10 for its commitment to roll out a full-time Tasmanian Special Operations Group.

Labor Treasury spokesman David O’Byrne said “the most important state budget since World War II” delivered no vision forth estate in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is nothing in this budget that reflects the magnitude of the crisis we have been through over the past 12 months,” he said. “This was the opportunity to be visionary but Peter Gutwein failed to rise to the challenge .”

Mr O’Byrne said state Labor would next week table a “fully costed” jobs package in response to the pandemic that he believed would deliver a“clear plan for Tasmania ”.

While welcoming a government commitment to turn its fleet of cars into electric vehicles by 2030, Greens leader C ass yO’ Connors aid the budget failed to address climate change and the pandemic.