Labor leader Dean Winter announces plan to “ban” pork barrelling in Tasmania

Labor leader Dean Winter has announced a plan to “ban” pork barrelling in Tasmania as he prepares to deliver his budget reply speech in state parliament this week.

Labor has announced a plan to “ban” pork barrelling in Tasmania, which Premier Jeremy Rockliff has labelled a “load of bull crap” and “breathtaking in its hypocrisy”. Picture: Linda Higginson

Opposition Leader Dean Winter has vowed to “ban” pork barrelling should Labor win power at the next election, declaring it as the party’s first step towards reining in “reckless” government spending.

But Premier Jeremy Rockliff labelled the plan a “load of bull crap” and said it was “breathtaking in its hypocrisy”.

Following the release of the 2024-25 state budget, which forecast net debt rising to $8.5bn in four years’ time, Mr Winter outlined a proposal on Sunday to pass laws that would require all government grants to be subject to an independent assessment process.

Dean Winter, Labor Leader. Picture: Caroline Tan

The budget provided almost $1.3bn to honour the Liberals’ election commitments, which the Labor leader said the state “simply cannot afford”.

“The Tasmanian Liberal government’s approach to grant funding has been to effectively go around to family members and friends of theirs to offer them money,” he said.

“This sort of pork barrelling isn’t on the basis of need. It’s on the basis of who the Liberals know.

“It’s not to say that there aren’t really great community organisations that need funding, but it is to say that you need a process around it.”

While Mr Winter did not rule out attempting to pass the proposed laws in the current parliament, in which the Liberals lack a majority, he said it was “the sort of thing we would seek to legislate in government”.

“Tasmanian Labor will legislate to ensure that every election promise that is made has to go through an independent process; an independent process that assesses projects on the basis of need, on the basis of a program that’s set up to establish and support really good community initiatives,” he said.

The Opposition Leader will detail the pork barrelling “ban” in his budget reply speech in parliament on Tuesday, which he said would offer “solutions” and a “really positive vision” for the state.

Treasurer Michael Ferguson with Premier Jeremy Rockliff. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Mr Rockliff said the government’s election commitments reflected “the needs of the community” and that Labor had promised $4bn in new spending during this year’s election campaign.

He rejected Mr Winter’s move to end pork barrelling, saying it was the job of members of parliament to listen to the needs of their local communities and he wasn’t going to “hand over election commitments to bureaucrats”

“Dean Winter couldn’t wait to get on Facebook and spend taxpayer money with no thought, [sending] secret letters to constituents and community organisations, with no knowledge of the public throughout the election,” he said.

“For them to talk about pork barrelling right now is breathtaking in its hypocrisy. What we’re about is sensible budget management. Labor outspent us three to one when it comes to their commitments that they made to the Tasmanian people, spending like drunken sailors. I’ll have none of that.”

The Premier said the government had proposed a “sensible path to surplus” and that the state’s debt levels were “manageable”.