Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great honour to second this motion from the member for Bass. In seconding this motion, I welcome the new member to this chamber and say that the electors of Bass are incredibly lucky to have a member who brings an enormous amount of professional experience to this place and somebody who brings an enormous amount of dedication, perseverance and energy. They are very lucky to have the new member in this place representing their interests. And I think this motion goes to that point. As the member for Bass pointed out, Tasmania is a great state with great opportunity. And as the motion itself says, Tasmania has enormous potential, with productive land, a skilled and willing workforce and people with a strong commitment to improve the state's economy by endeavour and hard work.

It does have a bright future, but unfortunately the people of Tasmania have suffered, as have the people of Australia, over the last few years under the awful concoction of a Labor-Greens government. As the member for Bass pointed out in his speech, there was a time in this place when there was agreement across the chamber that the major political parties would reject the insane economic policies of the Greens. Tasmania, unfortunately, has not seen the Labor Party reject those bad economic policies and those disastrous idealistic views that have a real impact on people's lives. Instead, they have seen the Labor-Greens government come to fruition in Tasmania by embracing those disastrous economic policies, and this has had a real impact on the people of Tasmania.

Perhaps I can take a moment to go through what this actually means for the people of Tasmania, because it is very stark and it is appropriate to remind the House and the rest of Australia what happens when Labor and the Greens jump into bed with each other on the Treasury benches. Tasmania has the lowest life expectancy of any state. It has the highest underemployment rate of any state. It has the lowest workforce participation rate in Australia, approximately four to five percentage points below the national average. It has the lowest proportion of private sector employment compared with public sector employment, and that clearly demonstrates the ideological divide between the two sides of politics.

Tasmania has the lowest gross state product per capita in Australia, about 20 per cent below the national average. Private business investment in Tasmania is only 1.3 per cent of Australia's total private business investment. Tasmania has the highest proportion of the population with a low-income card receiving an age pension, a disability support pension, Newstart allowance, parenting payment single, parenting payment partnered or youth allowance. It has the highest proportion of dwellings provided for housing owned by either the state or federal government of any other state. And it has the highest proportion of people without superannuation coverage.

In short, what has happened since the election of the Labor-Greens government in 2010 is the loss of approximately 10,000 jobs, a shrinking economy and a declining population. What Tasmania needs is a government with a cohesive, clear and direct economic plan. And that is exactly what the coalition government here in Canberra is prepared to deliver. With, hopefully, the election of a majority Liberal government in Hobart we will see the two levels of government working to correct the course that the Labor-Greens government has set in Tasmania.

We understand that great creators of wealth and prosperity in our nation are not the bureaucrats in Canberra and not the people pulling the strings of the bureaucracy in Hobart. The Australian people are the great creators of wealth and prosperity. The wealth creators are the small business owners, the family enterprises, the corner shops—people prepared to take on some risk, to go out there and have a go and to try and achieve something. And they will not be helped to achieve that through higher taxes or greater regulation. And whenever the Labor Party and the Greens get into bed with each other, that is exactly what we see.

Our economic plan for Tasmania will result in higher growth, more jobs and rising living standards. It is really important that, in a state like Tasmania, we re-engage those valued industries rather than victimise them—industries like forestry, mining and agriculture. That is why you are seeing a very strong commitment from the coalition government to invest in that productivity capacity and increase infrastructure by creating a one-stop shop in Launceston. I am really proud to be part of a government that understands that less government is the solution, not more government.

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