DESPITE passing the job of finding budget savings to department heads, the government cannot pass the buck on explaining just how the cuts will impact jobs and services.
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Tasmanian Health Organisation North, responsible for the Launceston General Hospital, has been told to find more than $8 million of savings.
That figure is expected to increase because the government withdrew its pay freeze legislation from the upper house.
How the LGH can find those savings without cutting back on surgeries, beds or jobs remains to be seen.
Health analyst Martin Goddard doubts how more than $8 million could be saved in the nine months left in the financial year without impacting services.
It is accepted that the government was confronted with a Legislative Council that rejected its clear mandate from the March election to fix a budget in disarray.
Having the pay freeze delayed would have exacerbated the already parlous condition of the state's bottom line.
The government was forced to act and can no longer guarantee the frontline services jobs such as nurses, police and ambulance workers.
Unions cannot cry crocodile tears about job losses, having fought tooth and nail against a pay freeze.
It is also accepted that Tasmania's public service is bloated. For too long, taxpayers have supported a system that costs more per head than anywhere in the country, yet delivers poorer results.
What is incumbent on the government, however, particularly Treasurer Peter Gutwein and other responsible ministers, is to detail where and how these savings will be made.
Refusing to "provide a running commentary" is the usual spin from the government. The public is not asking for a running commentary, merely some direction from the people it elected to lead.