Apple Isle being crushed to cider

Voters in Tasmania have every right to feel disappointed about being forced back to the polls for an unnecessary election that provides little hope of delivering improved governance. Like many mainland state governments, Tasmania has succumbed to a debt spiral and misallocation of funds for infrastructure projects of dubious public value. The ineptitude reached its height with the waste of billions of dollars on new ferries that were too big to fit on the wharves they were supposed to operate from. In the eyes of many voters, a planned sporting stadium – fast-tracked with legislation to bypass normal planning laws – is another wasteful vanity project the state can ill-afford.

The repeated follies are reminiscent of Queensland Labor’s commitment to billions of dollars for hydrogen and pumped hydro projects that on analysis by a new government made no economic sense. Tasmania’s debt and spending positions might pale in comparison to the woeful economic management forced on long-suffering residents in Victoria but the island state does not have the depth of industry or population to easily turn things around. Incredibly, it lacks the infrastructure for power to encourage business to grow.

The numbers demonstrate the failings of successive governments. Tasmania has the nation’s lowest bulk-billing levels and a major shortage of GPs. Public services – from hospital ER and elective surgery waiting times to metropolitan buses and the state school system – are failing on key indicators, while energy prices, insurance costs and council rates continue to rise.

Having inherited a state net debt-free, or close to it, in 2014, the current Rockliff minority Liberal government is on course to saddle future generations with a $13bn debt by 2027-28. Neither Liberal leader Jeremy Rockliff nor Labor’s Dean Winter has been able to articulate the sort of comprehensive solutions that are needed to sort things out. The Liberals dumped their privatisation agenda on the eve of polling and Labor is playing the man, not the ball. It was Labor’s immaturity and parliamentary games that triggered an election voters do not want, and what it offers is the prospect of weak government propped up by the Greens. This will not solve the problems Tasmanians face.

The frustrations of voters can be seen in the fact that despite warnings from the major parties, 40 per cent are expected to support independent candidates, setting the scene for another minority government. Tasmanians deserve better than this. They need a government with the courage and discipline to halt the decline in fiscal discipline and put the state back on a sustainable economic path.