Tasmania votes 2024: Libs claim ‘broad support’ for unlocking more native forests, Labor details energy policies
Day 17 of the campaign trail kicks off with the Liberal Party promising to crackdown on repeat offenders and commitments to sawmillers. Rolling election coverage.
Tasmania
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Labor leader Rebecca White has pitched a suite of energy policies to representatives from industry, the community services sector, and the union movement, outlining a plan she says will make power more affordable and transform the economy.
At an event organised by Labor and hosted by the Tasmanian Hospitality Association at AURA Hobart on Friday, Ms White used her keynote speech to detail the energy policies her party is taking to the March 23 state election.
Invoking Tasmania’s hydro power history and the spectre of climate change, she said the state had the ability to supply new industries with renewable energy and to “support a new era of domestic manufacturing”.
“We can keep doing what we’ve done well for generations, and more of it, without the risk of conflict or doubt about the future,” Ms White said.
“We can make our existing strengths our super-strengths.
“But only as long as we keep driving ahead, with the same strength of conviction shown by those who came before us.”
Ms White listed soaring power prices, a lack of energy supply certainty for big business and the four major industrials, anda dearth of new renewable energy generation as key issues Tasmania needed to confront.
Labor has proposed a range of energy measures during its campaign, but the party’s signature energy policy involves selling the state’s equity share in the proposed Marinus Link interconnectorback to the federal government and investing the proceeds into new generation assets, creating a government business enterprise it has dubbed Tasmanian Power Co.
The entity would take ownership of Hydro Tasmania’s existing wind assets and form partnerships with developers to incentivise the construction of new wind farms.
Labor also intends to amend Hydro’s Ministerial Charter, shifting the focus from profitmaking to supporting the growth of the state’s economy and local energy supply.
The Liberals have made a similar commitment, saying they will change the charter to prioritise low power prices and local jobs over exporting energy to Victoria.
Energy Minister Nick Duigan claimed Labor was walking away from its Tasmania Power Co. pledge “in the face of a union revolt”.
Ms White said workers at Entura, Hydro’s consulting arm, had made it clear they were “fairly satisfied to stay with Hydro” after Labor announced it wanted to transfer the business into its new Tasmanian Power Co.
“Entura has a very important role to play, the workers there are very well supported by us and will continue to be,” she said.
Libs claim ‘broad support’ for unlocking more native forests
The state government will extend existing native wood supply contracts out to 2040, a move the Liberals say will provide certainty for local sawmillers.
Resources Minister Felix Ellis announced the policy on Friday during a visit to McKay Timber’s Glenorchy sawmill.
“We are backing in on-island processing, family businesses that have been crafting Tasmania’s timber into our homes and into a range of beautiful products,” he said.
The state government will also update Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s ministerial charter to favour local processors.
McKay Timber general manager Brett McKay welcomed the extended contracts.
“Every business looks for certainty moving forward into the future, sovereign risk is always top of the list for anyone, we are very pleased to see the extension come forward to 2040,” he said.
However Mr McKay was lukewarm on the government’s proposal to “unlock” 40,000ha of native forests.
The Tasmanian Forest Products Association has raised concerns the plan amounts to forestry again becoming a political football.
“None of us really want to go back to the old days,” Mr McKay said.
Mr Ellis stood by the plan to open up more native forest for logging.
“There’s broad support for unlocking more timber in Tasmania, there is no doubt about that,” he said.
Mr Ellis said the 40,000 hectares was primarily former production forest in northern and north-west Tasmania.
Crime crackdown promise with new strikeforce
A specialist Strikeforce unit within Tasmania Police and a pledge to build officer numbers to record levels form key parts of the Liberals’ law and order election promises.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff will on Friday outline a plan to boost the blue line in Tasmania to a record 1521 full-time sworn officers by 2030, while the pledge to get tough on crime includes establishing a new and permanent Strikeforce with the sole mission to target repeat offenders, no matter their age.
“Tasmanians have had a gutful of juvenile career criminals committing crime and getting away with it, and we’re going to change that,” Mr Rockliff said.
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“We know that most of the crime across Tasmania is committed by serial offenders.
“In fact, more than 50 per cent of criminals reoffended within two years in 2022-23.
“We also know that the best way to cut criminal activity off at the knees is to target it with a dedicated Strikeforce, and that’s what our 20 strong team will be tasked to do.”
Saying Tasmanians have “the right to feel safe in their homes, at work and in their community”, Mr Rockliff said a re-elected Liberal government would recruit an extra 60 new police to boost numbers to 1521 full time officers by 2030, with the new police stationed across the state.
Energy Minister escapes no-confidence motion over ‘lying’ claim
Labor has accused the state’s Energy Minister Nick Duigan of lying to parliament about power price increases faced by the state’s major industrial users — but its no-confidence motion failed.
More than half of swift parrot habitat gone, new research shows
The state government says it ‘does not believe that forestry is driving the swift parrot to extinction’ as new research reveals how much of the species’ habitat has been lost in Tasmania.