MORE WORK AHEAD FOR PREMIER

PETER Gutwein had won praise for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic but he needs to tackle other crises with the same alacrity during his second year in office, Labor and the Greens say.

Mr Gutwein became Premier on January 20 last year after the sudden resignation of Will Hodgman, and before the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.

Labor leader Rebecca White said that things weren’t great for too many Tasmanians before the pandemic and the state shouldn’t settle for a return to normal.

She said job creation had to be the Government’s priority.

“With unemployment approaching 8 per cent and youth unemployment approaching 20 per cent, the Premier’s most recent budget is not a plan for jobs, it’s a plan for unemployment,” she said.

“Only Labor has a plan to create and support 35,000 new jobs by investing in skills and training, innovation, new industries and productive infrastructure like our Sea Highway plan.

Ms White cited the growing elective surgery waiting list, public dental waiting list and public housing list as examples of where the government had fallen short.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said many Tasmanians would be thankful for Mr Gutwein’s handling of 2020’s major health crisis, but the government had hard work ahead.

And Ms O’Connor said Mr Gutwein was yet to deliver on some of his early priorities and she challenged him to introduce electoral and political donations reform this year.