Chalmers’ tirade as Labor struggles for traction in Tasmanian election

Jim Chalmers has launched an attack on the Tasmanian Liberal government, as state Labor promised more GPs in a ‘desperate’ pre-election pitch.

Dean Winter spruiking his health policy in Devonport, Tasmania, for Labor’s state election launch. Picture: Facebook.

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Jim Chalmers has savaged the “hopeless and hapless” Tasmanian Liberals, claiming they are “utterly out of their depth” and that the Albanese government could do more for Tasmanians under a state Labor adminis­tration.

In contrast to Anthony Albanese saying he was able to work well with Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff, the federal Treasurer delivered a partisan tirade to launch Tasmanian Labor’s election campaign on Sunday.

“We could do even more for the people of this state if we had a Tasmanian Labor government to work with,” Dr Chalmers said at the Devonport launch, as polls suggested Labor was well behind heading into the last week of campaigning for the July 19 election. “Instead, you have a Liberal government in Hobart, bumbling and stumbling from one stuff-up to the next.

 “The Liberals here aren’t just out of touch or out of ideas, they’re utterly out of their depth.”

Labor secured huge positive swings – of up to 17 per cent - in Tasmania at the May 3 federal election but polling suggests the party is struggling to gain traction in the state campaign, with the last poll putting the Liberals on 37 per cent to Labor’s 26.

This is despite the state Liberals driving the state deeply into debt – by some measures the nation’s highest – while bungling a key Bass Strait ferries project and lurching from a privatisation agenda to proposing a state-owned insurance company.

Dr Chalmers praised Labor leader Dean Winter’s credentials as he introduced him at the launch, and attacked the partial insurance nationalisation as “shonky” and “risky”.

“This is the Liberal legacy laid bare: waste and rorts, more debt and bigger deficits,” Dr Chalmers said.

He pointed to the Liberals leaving two new $1bn ferries stranded by failing to build a wharf for them as evidence of the need for change in Tasmania after 11 years of Liberal rule. “Years overdue, hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and they still can’t tell you when the wharf will be finished,” he said.

Dr Chalmers joined those predicting a “looming bailout” for the state-owned ferry company, due to the bungling, something he said the state budget – heading towards $13bn in debt – “can’t afford”.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers in Devonport for the Labor launch event on Sunday. Picture: Facebook

Mr Winter, a right faction leader in a branch dominated by the left, focused on health, promising to double the number of Labor-promised free GP clinics from five to 10.

He also announced new incentives for GPs, including a payroll tax exemption for contracted doctors and trainee GPs.

Spruiking his working-class background – son of a miner father and nurse mother – he also vowed to reduce state reliance on federal funds by growing jobs.

“We should be a state that helps shape the future of this nat­ion through renewable energy investment and economic ambition - not one that turns to Canberra for handouts for every problem,” he said.

“We should be a state where young people are supported to succeed, and where they see a future for themselves with exciting careers and a fair shot at home ownership – not one where we simply accept record numbers of our kids leaving for the mainland.”

The Liberals, who initially vowed to match Labor’s initial five “TassieDoc” bulk-billing practices, declined to extend it to Mr Winter’s new promise of 10, instead dismissing the pitch as “desperate”.

“We will continue to work with communities to fix the GP shortage that federal Labor has created, but we will not try to trick Tasmanians with a desperate, last-ditch campaign con,” said Liberal Health Minister Jacquie Petrusma.