Strong economy Government’s major focus

Premier Jeremy Rockliff has today announced a sweeping assault on government red tape and regulation, an audit of government programmes to remove waste, and an assessment of the suitability of divesting a number of government-owned businesses.

In his State of the State address, Premier Rockliff declared a strong economy was his Government’s major focus.

Since being re-elected, the Government has delivered more than 1,000 initiatives in the first 300 days of its 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future, and is only just getting started.

To give people the best possible opportunity to deal with cost-of-living pressures to continue our record investment in our health system, we need a strong economy; to keep building the roads, the bridges, the schools and hospitals, we need a strong economy; and to be able to implement the Commission of Inquiry recommendations to keep our children safe, we need a strong economy.

The Premier revealed new measures to identify and cut unnecessary red tape and regulations, including taking a comprehensive look at all Government programs. He also detailed the government’s plan to achieve a ‘sensible pathway to surplus’ without raising taxes.

1. Cutting back business licences by working with businesses to strip away unnecessary regulation to encourage growth in the small business sector, while also ensuring people operate safely and within the law;
2. Cutting red tape, establishing a red tape portal where Tasmanians can log their experiences of unnecessary red tape;
3. Cutting unnecessary legislation by setting aside parliamentary sitting days, especially for removing legislation and requiring ministers and regulators to remove regulations for every new one they create;
4. Audit Government programs and state service resources to make sure we are not wasting resources on things that are not a priority, enabling the Government to be structured more efficiently; and
5. Assessing the benefits of moving several entities out of Government ownership, with respected economist Saul Eslake to provide advice to the Government.

Read the full transcript of the State of the State Address here.