Labor says recession on the way for state economy

A “back to basics” mentality is precisely what the doctor ordered for the state’s finances, Labor says. Why a government minister says Tasmania is being “underestimated”.

Australian money falling finance crisis sinking sea water; recession household pressure generic

The state government must go back to basics to head off the risk of a recession in Tasmania, Labor says.

Opposition leader Dean Winter said gloomy forecasts from ratings agencies and economic analysts were uniformly negative.

“The Premier’s so called strong plan is looks like it’s heading us into a recession,” he said.

“We need to make sure we can get Tasmania moving, and that means we finally need to start saying ‘yes’ to some of these big projects that are being held back.

“We’ve got Robbins Island that’s been in the planning system for about eight years, we’ve got big proposals like Abel Energy up at Bell Bay, which will create hundreds of jobs.

“But at the moment, we’ve got an energy crisis in Tasmania, we’ve got record numbers of young Tasmanians leading our state and we’ve got to get a handle on these issues.

Labor leader Dean Winter speaks to the media about the state budget at Parliament Square in Hobart on Monday, February 10, 2025.

Mr Winter said continuing low educational attainment, the exodus of young people, an energy crisis, a decline in housing starts were symptoms of a malaise which was being picked up by the likes of Moody’s, Standard and Poors, CommSec and economist Saul Eslake in their analyses.

“If you look at economic conditions, we’ve lost 8,700 full time jobs since Jeremy Rockliff took his government into minority,” Mr Winter said.

“We’ve got a budget which is now forecasting massive cash deficits, record cash deficits throughout over the last few years, and we’ll forecast going forward as well.

“Debt’s getting towards $10bn and in that situation, we’ll be spending half a billion dollars every year just servicing debt. So we’ve got a budget in trouble.

“We’ve got an economy that’s going backwards and contracting according to Access Economics.”

Minister Felix Ellis at Burnie for a briefing on the West Coast bushfires. Picture: Tasmanian Government

Liberal minister Felix Ellis said the strength of the state economy had been consistently underestimated by commentators.

“They’ve been consistently wrong and consistently overly pessimistic,” he said.

“We’ve got record low unemployment in Tasmania,” he said. “We’ve got a $27bn pipeline of infrastructure ahead of us and I think Tasmanians want to see people talking up the opportunities here in Tasmania.

“We’ve got huge investment between government and the private sector, massive intergenerational infrastructure projects that are creating jobs and opportunities.

“I think it’s time for Tasmanians to really, and particularly Tasmanian politicians, to be really talking up the opportunities in this state and to drive further investment.”

Originally published as Labor says recession on the way for state economy