It’s time the Government took its economic medicine, writes Kristie Johnston.
If you were diagnosed with a terminal illness and a sensible cure was available, you’d take it – right?
Well Tasmania’s economy is in a bad way, but a sensible cure is available.
Our debt and deficit crisis are the worst of any state or territory.
But the government is ignoring the cure, the treatment prescribed by its own specialist economist, Saul Eslake.
Worse, the government is doing the opposite of what’s needed for our economic wellbeing.
The specialist’s advice was “do not” sell the Government Business Enterprises (GBEs), avoid recruitment freezes and give up the illusory efficiency dividends.
The advice was that doing these things will cause more harm than good, especially for all the Tasmanians who rely on government services.
It’s time for an intervention to save our economy.
Fortunately, Tasmania’s minority parliament is well placed to help.
If the non-government members vote together we can force the government to take its medicine, do the treatment as prescribed by Mr Eslake. I’ll use my private members’ time in parliament’s next sitting to introduce a motion that contains four treatments for economic recovery, as prescribed by Mr Eslake.
Treatment one: Six-monthly check-ups, and when they show the state’s finances aren’t meeting targets the Treasurer must explain to parliament what will be done to get finances back on track.
Treatment two: Set up a parliamentary budget office to provide independent oversight of the state’s finances. A bit like a specialist care team, it’s an expert set of eyes providing independent analysis of the budget – the federal government has one.
Treatment three: Change the Charter of Budget Responsibility Act to require governments to build in medium to long-term targets (four to 10 years), beyond election cycles.
Treatment four: Implement the recommendations of another specialist – Tasmania’s Integrity Commission – to end pork barrelling. The money thrown around by the main political parties at election time is bad for Tasmania’s financial health and bad for our democracy.
The budget health treatments in my motion will not be costly and are not controversial.
They will help save Tasmania’s economy, make it sustainable, and I’ll be encouraging my parliamentary colleagues to support me in leading this intervention.
Kristie Johnston is the independent member for Clark