More than new roads

HIDDEN on page 76 of the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s latest economic report card is a worrying table. Prepared by the Tasmanian Council of Social Service, it is a table of 15 social indicators that one would imagine have all improved during these times that the Hodgman Government keeps telling us are the best ever to be a Tasmanian. But they haven’t. In fact just five of the measures have improved over the past five years.

The first measure relates to power prices, and is the number of Tasmanians on “energy concessions” — that is, people on concessions cards who get taxpayer assistance with their electricity bills — have risen by 5 per cent in those five years, to almost 93,000. Aurora CEO Rebecca Kardos at a Parliamentary hearing yesterday revealed they had a record 88,991 concession customers as at September 30, with 106,191 people in 2018-19 requesting payment plans,

Where people in the workforce are the predominant driver of population growth, those figures should be lower, but they’re not.

The next four measures relate to health care, and — perhaps not surprisingly — it’s not a good picture. Only one is improving, and that’s the number of Tasmanians now on the oral health wait list. It’s down 20 per cent, to 12,000 or so. Sadly, however, the other three measures on health are going the wrong way – with the number of patients departing the emergency department at the Royal Hobart Hospital within four

IT IS A TABLE OF 15 INDICATORS THAT ONE WOULD IMAGINE HAVE ALL IMPROVED DURING THESE TIMES THAT THE HODGMAN GOVERNMENT KEEPS TELLING US ARE THE BEST EVER TO BE A TASMANIAN. BUT THEY HAVEN’T.

hours going backwards, at least 2200 more Tasmanians waiting for elective surgery than in 2015, and the proportion of people saying they have put off going to their GP because of cost up from 7 per cent to almost 9 per cent. These are not good outcomes.

On education, it’s a mixed bag — with the Year 12 retention rate up (as it should be) to 74 per cent, from 68.4 per cent in 2015. But enrolments in vocational training — where we train the people who will fuel the engine room of the state’s economy — are down by 12 per cent, to 55,700.

Turning to employment, while the number of unemployed Tasmanians is strongly heading in the right direction (down 2900 from 18,900 to 16,000), the number of underemployed Tasmanians is on the rise (up 3900 over the same period, to 29,600). The number of Tasmanians on Newstart has dropped, however, down by about 1000 to 20,081. And that’s almost the last of the good news on the TasCOSS table, with only the rate of digital literacy earning a tick in a sea of crosses around housing, incomes and the number of Tasmanian children in foster care.

Now there are many pages of good news stories in the 121-page Tasmania Report. But the overwhelming take-out from any fair reading of it is that while times are going well, there remain a stack of risks — and areas we can, and should, be doing much better. Treasurer Peter Gutwein was correct, then, to respond to the report’s release by saying: “There’s more to do.” The challenge? As we have outlined, the report’s recommendations is that the “more” should be wider than just building some new roads.

Over to you, Treasurer.

Responsibility for all editorial comment is taken by the Editor, Chris Jones, Level 1, 2 Salamanca Square, Hobart, TAS, 7000