The government has laid out its plan for Tasmania’s future, but the announcement came as Deputy Premier Jeremy Rockliff said there was a “very real possibility” of a hung Parliament.
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Premier Will Hodgman launched his 43-point plan for the direction of the state on Sunday, a list of targets the government will aim to achieve by 2022 if re-elected.
The plan includes for 90 per cent of all contracts to go to Tasmanian-based businesses, a 50 per cent rise in new mining ventures, a 20 per cent reduction in the suicide rate, and three quarters of students completing their Tasmanian Certificate of Education.
Speaking to State Council delegates, Mr Hodgman said more information on the government’s policies to achieve these targets would be released in the coming months.
“It’s a plan to build on the gains we’ve made since the election, and it is a plan that you can trust us to deliver,” he said.
“Building a stronger economy and creating more jobs remains the number one priority of my government.
“A job provides someone with the best opportunity to be their best in life and a strong economy provides the foundation for a stronger community.”
Mr Hodgman said there was a lot more that the government would share between now and the state election, which is due in March next year.
“It’s certainly not job done, it’s job just begun,” he said.
“[Labor] may have a more popular leader, I accept that.
“But today we’ve released the next stage of our plan for Tasmania, for your future, for a re-elected majority Liberal government.”
The government’s targets went on to include a 10 per cent increase in affordable housing for youth at risk, a 33 per cent decrease in the bushfire risk to lives and property, and a 50 per cent increase of the average visitor spend.
But Opposition deputy leader Michelle O’Byrne said the plan was an annunciation of what Mr Hodgman should have already been doing since he won government in 2014.
“I am completely stumped that a government that has been in power for 40 months, nearly their entire term, has suddenly decided the targets that Tasmanians have been expecting them to deliver the entire time,” she said.
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor described the targets as “thin, pre-election spruiking”.
“There’s nothing about some of the really significant social, economic, and environmental issues facing Tasmania,” Ms O’Connor said.
She also said that polls had shown there was a possibility Tasmania would be moving towards a balance of power Parliament.
The government is yet to reveal a date for the election.