Tasmanian infrastructure was the big loser in Treasurer Scott Morrison’s first budget, Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Michael Bailey says.
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Mr Bailey said he was disappointed infrastructure programs including moving the University of Tasmania’s two Northern campuses into Burnie and Launceston did not receive funding.
“The Northern Cities funding is desperately needed in a part of the state that doesn’t have a lot going for it right now,” he said.
Mr Bailey praised tax cuts for small and medium businesses, which he said would benefit the bulk of Tasmanian enterprises.
Premier Will Hodgman welcomed the tax cuts and incentives for small business, which he said would support jobs and economic growth in the state.
“Small businesses are one of our state's largest employers, with an estimated 36,800 small businesses employing about 100,000 Tasmanians,” he said.
“Importantly, many of these jobs are in regional areas, with two in five small businesses located outside our city centres.”
Mr Hodgman said changes to income tax brackets would assist almost 40,000 working Tasmanians, and help up to $14 million of would-be taxes be spent locally.
He said it appeared funding for education, health and the GST was broadly in line with expectations, and would make further comment as the government worked through the finer details of the budget.
Mr Bailey said he was excited to see the introduction of the $752 million Young Jobs PaTH – Prepare Trial Hire- program, designed to help young people under 25 to gain employment through better training, internships and business incentives.
The program, beginning on April 1, 2017, will involve young job seekers participating in intensive pre-employment skills training, with participants to take part in an internship program.
Job seekers will receive $200 per fortnight on top of their regular income support while participating in the intern program, with businesses to receive an upfront subsidy of $1000 and further benefits if they hire the participant.
Mr Bailey said the PaTH program was “much more business-like” than the Work for the Dole program the government is working to revamp.
Tasmanian Council of Social Services CEO Kym Goodes said she needed to look further at Path program, but welcomed “any initiative that supports young people into employment and recognises the failure of Work for the Dole”.
Ms Goodes said Mr Morrison’s budget showed a “disappointing lack of leadership” and contained nothing that would help Tasmania to “catch up with the rest of the country”.
“The budget locks in $13 billion in cuts from family payment, income support for young people and paid parental leave, and adds a further $3 billion in cuts to payments for essential services. This includes cuts to Medicare and dental health and income support for people with disability,” Ms Goodes said.
The Australian Education Union’s Tasmanian branch said the axing of Gonski school funding reform meant Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would fail generations of Tasmanian children.
The Northern Cities funding is desperately needed in a part of the state that doesn’t have a lot going for it right now.
- Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Michael Bailey
Branch President Helen Richardson said the election was designed to suit the interests of the government’s election plans, rather than the needs of Tasmanian students.
"Tasmania has the highest need of any state or territory and too many of our kids are being denied the opportunity to achieve their learning potential because schools are not equipped to meet their individual educational needs,” Ms Richardson said.
"Tasmanian teachers, support staff and principals are dedicated professionals completely committed to the meeting the learning needs of their students but they can't keep doing more with less."
Tasmanian Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said few budget measures would benefit the state.
“There’s no vision at all for transitioning the Tasmanian economy. There’s a rejigged expenditure there on the Midland Highway which we seem to get every budget, there’s nothing there to relocate the UTAS campuses when UTAS is probably the best thing we’ve got going for us as a state,” Senator Whish-Wilson said.
Franklin Labor MHR Julie Collins said the federal government had failed to stick up for Tasmanian families and did not deliver “a single extra dollar into Tasmania’s roads, rail or public infrastructure beyond that in Labor’s 2013 budget.”
Ms Collins said the budget prioritised big business over battlers.
“The budget still includes Tony Abbott’s cuts to family tax benefits and cuts to paid parental leave and will still see Tasmanians working until they are 70,” she said.
“Malcolm Turnbull’s failure to match Labor’s $300 million co-investment plan with UTAS or deliver [a fibre National Broadband Network connection] to the West Coast shows they are not serious about creating jobs for Tasmanians.”
In a release, the federal Liberal team said the budget was a “strong plan to ensure greater growth and more jobs for the Tasmanian economy, while also taking into account the fact we must live within our means”.
The MPs said an $8.8 million, four-year Bridge Renewal Program, Antarctic strategy funding and tax breaks for middle income earners and businesses would provide significant benefit to Tasmania.