Some economic pluses don’t fix 8.2% jobless rate

Tasmanian Labor
  • Government crows with 22,500 Tasmanians out of work
  • Growth down more than 3 percent on last year
  • Household consumption down more than 4 percent
  • Labor has welcomed the modest improvement in Tasmania’s economy reported today in the latest ABS data set.

    The partial rebound in Tasmania’s economic growth since the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic is a positive sign but it must be remembered that it’s coming off a very low base.

    Shadow Treasurer David O’Byrne cautioned that there’s still a long way to go for Tasmania to fully recover from the recession.

    “There’s no place for complacency if we’re to turn around the state’s economic decline,” Mr O’Byrne said.

    “10,600 more Tasmanians have been thrown out of work since COVID.

    “The government pays scant regard to them and the hardship they face as Peter Gutwein crows about his economic credentials.

    “At 8.2% Tasmania has the worse unemployment rate in the country.

    “And the latest figures show serious private sector weakness in the economy, with business investment down nearly 10 percent from a year ago.

    “We have to be mindful of how much harder things will get when the COVID supplements paid through JobKeeper and JobSeeker drop out.

    “For the government to claim that Tasmania outpaces the nation on State Final Demand, using the national average including a COVID impacted Victoria, is illustrative of their approach. In fact our result was poorer than NT, SA, NSW and QLD. Hardly anything to crow about.

    “It is exactly the wrong time for the visionless Budget delivered by Peter Gutwein.

    “This was the time the Premier and Treasurer needed to step up and invest in jobs for Tasmanians.

    “But Peter Gutwein doesn’t have a plan for jobs, he only has a plan for unemployment.”

    Only Labor’s jobs plan offers the vision for Tasmania’s economic future.

    David O’Byrne MP

    Shadow Treasurer

    /Public Release. View in full here.