Last week’s Revised Estimates Report confirmed that the budget remains balanced and in surplus under the Hodgman majority Liberal Government.
Scott Bacon has failed on five consecutive occasions to even attempt an alternative budget. When he was the Labor Finance Minister budgets were hundreds of millions of dollars in the red, and in Opposition he can’t even pretend to balance a budget.
Mr Bacon also seems to be forgetting that his plan at last year’s election was for the budget to be nearly $40 million in deficit this year, rising to a $146 million deficit by 2020-21*. He’s the last person qualified to lecture about debt.
After inheriting a Labor-Green budget containing $1.1 billion in cumulative deficits, we’ve returned the budget to surplus and kept it there, while reinvesting heavily in essential services. The RER confirms that the budget’s strong position has been used to respond to a range of challenges, most notably including unprecedented levels of demand in our hospitals and health systems.
We’re also using the strength of the budget to invest in Tasmania’s future which will fund our record $2.6 billion infrastructure investment into inter-generational assets like schools, roads, bridges and health infrastructure.
* https://www.tas.liberal.org.au/sites/default/files/Labor%20Summary.pdf
