An alarming new Treasury report has revealed that Treasurer Guy Barnett is on track to match his predecessor Michael Ferguson's budget deficit blowouts - pointing to the need for urgent budget repair.
Snuck out the door late on a Friday afternoon in an attempt to avoid media scrutiny, Treasury's 2024-25 September Quarterly report included the shocking revelation that Tasmania's deficit so far this year is $620 million.
That means one-quarter of the way into the financial year the Liberals are already over three-quarters of the way into their deficit. This year's September deficit is more than double the size of the prior September quarter.
The Treasury report reveals that in just three months the Health Department has blown its budget by more than $30m because it doesn't have enough health workers and has had to outsource recruitment.
When the Liberals first took power there was money in the bank. After ten years of financial mismanagement the state is now in record debt and deficit.
With Michael Ferguson in charge of the purse strings, the Liberals delivered the biggest deficit ever seen in Tasmanian history - nearly five times worse than the deficit carried at the height of COVID.
Labor has put forward our ten-point plan for budget repair which includes steps like bring more consulting services in-house and conducting an audit of all outsourcing contracts to ensure taxpayers are getting value for money.
It's a first step and it shows Labor is serious about leading when it comes to repairing Tasmania's finances.
The test is now for new Treasurer Guy Barnett to show how he will avoid another $1 billion deficit.
Josh Willie MP
Shadow Treasurer
