Tuesday 15 June 2021

Tasmania's fiscal problems laid bare

 

THE chickens came home to roost last week with the latest five yearly  report by Treasury into the state government’s fiscal sustainability.

Premier Gutwein knew they were heading his way and what they were bringing.

That’s probably one reason he called the election when he did, to avoid pesky questions about how under every likely scenario over the next 15 years spending will exceed income, in most cases without narrowing the gap between what’s needed and what’s delivered.

Mr Gutwein said “the report confirms our finances are strong”. The report did not say that. The adjective “strong” was not used to describe our position. That the report said was “for all scenarios analysed, the results show projected fiscal outcomes that are manageable in the short to medium-term. However, the size of corrective action required to maintain fiscal sustainability increases over the projection period”.

This is a polite way of saying if you don’t start organising a survival plan soon, you’ll be in more trouble than Burke and Wills.