Libs challenge White over budget response

PASSING the budget bills and Labor and Green responses will be the top priorities for the coming parliamentary week, Leader of the House Michael Ferguson says.

Mr Ferguson said the government had set out its plan for the future of the state – and called on Labor to do the same.

“We have 18 hours allocated for debate on the budget bills,” he said. “This is a critical stage for the Liberal government to deliver the budget so that we can deliver our plan.

“Our plan, of course, was only recently endorsed by the voters at the recent election and faithful to our word the commitments that we made in the election are in the budget.

“It’s funded, it’s affordable, and we are going to deliver.”

Mr Ferguson said it was incumbent on Labor to set out a fully costed alternative budget.

“It’s a critical week for the Labor Party, because on Tuesday at noon, it is Rebecca White’s opportunity to outline an alternative budget on behalf of the opposition,” he said.

“Yes, they have skipped that opportunity for the last seven budgets.

“We know that the Greens have stated that they will be providing their alternative budget, what their priorities are, and importantly, how they would fund those.

“And so the question is … whether Labor will break their losing streak for seven years, and on our eighth budget, provide an alternative.”

Labor leader Rebecca White accused Mr Ferguson of trying to distract people from the government’s own budget.

“We delivered an alternative budget just this year when we went to the election, we offered up different policies, they were fully costed for the electorate to understand,” she said.

“But my point would be to the Tasmanian community: don’t get fooled by Peter Gutwein and Michael Ferguson trying to distract from their budget by talking about Labor’s alternative budget.

“The reality is there is a state budget handed down on Thursday, that is taking Tasmania into more than $3bn of debt and yet at the same time Tasmanians still can’t access the sorts of services that they should whether it’s health or housing or education. There is only one budget that we should be scrutinising here, and that’s the Liberal budget.”

Cassy O’Connor said the Greens would give housing a high priority in its alternative budget to be handed down in state parliament this week.

“We’ll be putting forward our alternative budget, which shows how you can tackle the climate, deliver real jobs that are sustainable and charter path through the Covid health emergency,” she said.

“Our priority will be on looking after the place, looking after people and doing it in a fiscally responsible way.”