Keep rolling out the big projects
Skills focus is welcome, but steady budget is too cautious, writes Michael Bailey
THIS year’s budget was one of the toughest any Tasmanian government has had to hand down.
The government has done a fantastic job managing the public health crisis caused by COVID-19. Now the task ahead is to stay true to their word and do the same for Tasmania’s business community and pave the way for not only recovery, but sustained growth.
Before the budget, the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry launched a bold plan for an economic Road to Recovery in Tasmania.
The plan was developed in consultation with the broader business community and its key focus areas of supporting businesses to stay open, investing in people and investing in infrastructure still ring true.
When it comes to supporting businesses to stay open, our feedback is clear — government needs to reduce input costs, like power costs, they need to ease existing restrictions and they need to cut payroll tax. While the cautious budget revealed yesterday goes a long way, it struck a more steady-as-shegoes tone rather than a reformist one as we would have hoped.
We need to invest in people to ensure we have a welltrained, skilled workforce that can support business. We should be looking to make it easier to re-skill employees who want to work in a different industry or who have lost their job because of COVID. This budget goes some way to achieving that and it’s a positive to see the government looking to create a skilled workforce to support the stimulus measures outlined in the budget.
Investing in infrastructure is another major opportunity. The government must ensure that there is a steady pipeline of residential, commercial and civil projects to keep our builders busy right around the state. We know that infrastructure projects, from minor maintenance to major construction, are some of the best ways to support and stimulate the economy.
This budget takes a very cautious approach and the government must work hard to ensure it delivers on everything announced.
It’s one thing to allocate a budget, it’s another thing to make sure the money is spent effectively and efficiently. We hope the government ensures its infrastructure budget in particular is rolled out smoothly and on time.
It’s also concerning that even though Treasury forecasts infrastructure spending will create 25,000 jobs, the unemployment rate will still hover over 8 per cent for years to come.
The business community stands ready to work with the government to deliver. We need to work together to rebuild confidence in our business sector and to make sure we keep up the positive economic momentum that had been building up prior to the COVID outbreak in Australia.
It’s not going to be easy, but if we work together, Tasmania’s many natural advantages position us well to bounce back.
Let’s make it happen.
IT’S CONCERNING THAT EVEN THOUGH TREASURY FORECASTS INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING WILL CREATE 25,000 JOBS, UNEMPLOYMENT WILL STILL HOVER OVER 8 PER CENT FOR YEARS TO COME