Labor Minister Sarah Lovell lashes out at state budget, says community services left out

Community services shadow Minister Sarah Lovell said it was "deeply disappointing" to see the budget fall short in terms of cost of living relief.

"We know that Tasmanians are dealing with a cost of living crisis and this is the number one issue for people right across the state," Ms Lovell said.

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"Rather than recognize the important role that community service organisations play in assisting people through this crisis, and providing adequate funding for those organisations, we see very little in the way of any meaningful relief and completely inadequate funding for organizations."

She said the community service sector had been calling out for indexation.

"What that means is those organizations are likely to see a cut in services, and they're having to make some really tough decisions about operational costs like staffing levels," she said.

"We've seen over a number of years the levels of their core funding not increasing in line with the cost of providing those services."

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Skills, training and workforce growth Minister Felix Ellis said there were a range of different increased investments in the community services space.

"This budget provides significant support and resources for our community sector, including in the family and sexual violence support space," Mr Ellis said.

"There are major investments to make sure that those people are on the front line of supporting our community so when they fall on tough times, are backed and supported."

He said the government had called on the federal government to do its part in national inflation.

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"Here in Tasmania, we're sheltering Tasmanians who are doing it tough on some of the worst effects of that national problem through major investment and also partnership with the federal government," he said.

"We'll continue those investments and continue to work with our social and support sector to care for Tasmania."

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