Peter Gutwein,Premier
Tasmania went into coronavirus pandemic with a strong balance sheet with surpluses forecast across the forward estimates and low net debt when compared to other states.
In fact, our economy was named the fastest growing in the country and prior to the pandemic was leading the nation across a raft of performance indicators, including annual jobs growth.
This has been confirmed by leading national reports including CommSec, Sensis and Deloitte Access.
Tasmania was also one of the only jurisdictions that had net cash and investments as opposed to net debt before the pandemic.
Despite demonstrating that he cannot read a balance sheet, Mr O'Byrne's false claims help no one but himself, and he should be ashamed for playing politics with Tasmanians in this way.
The reality is, every state and territory in Australia will be heavily impacted by the pandemic, but we will rebuild.
That's why we are undertaking the most aggressive construction program in Tasmania's history, while focusing on our unique strengths in sectors that underpin our economy so that we can get our society back to normal and the thousands of Tasmanians who have lost their jobs back into productive work.
I would urge Mr O'Byrne to stop the silly political games, stop misleading Tasmanians, and work with us as we rebuild a stronger Tasmania.
