FERGUSON: OUR PLAN IS WORKING

WITH new projections showing Tasmania’s population will approach the 650,000 mark in the next decade, acting Premier Michael Ferguson says the state government’s plan to grow the economy is “working”.

The 2022 Population Statement, produced by the federal government’s Centre for Population and released on Friday, forecasts that Tasmania’s population will rise to 647,000 in 2032-33.

Mr Ferguson talked up the figures on Thursday, saying a growing population was “a key part of our plan to build Tasmania’s future as we need more working-age people to grow the economy”.

Tasmania has an unemployment rate of 4 per cent, which is 0.5 percentage points higher than the national average and the second highest unemployment rate in the country after South Australia.

“When we came to government in 2014 people were leaving the state in droves, thanks to the disastrous job-destroying policies of the Labor-Green government,” Mr Ferguson said. “We have turned the ship around and now it’s the complete opposite.

“It’s also clear that people are moving here and finding work in our strong economy, with a record 290,000 Tasmanians employed, and the highest participation rate on record of 62.9 per cent.”

Mr Ferguson said a larger population meant “more money going into our economy, which pays for the essential services Tasmanians deserve, in the areas they care about”.

Tasmania’s population growth is predicted to be underpinned by net overseas migration in the decade to 2033, according to the Centre for Population.