Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, congratulations on your elevation to that high office.

Tasmania's economy currently paints two very different pictures. It stands at a crossroads. There has been significant government investment over the past decade that has helped to make Tasmania a leader in agriculture, with irrigation investments; in aquaculture; in tourism, with over a million visitors to Tasmania in the year ended March 2015; and in hospitality. Likewise, there has been strong support from governments for emerging science and innovation, with the Antarctic research and education sectors all showing positive signs.

Sadly, on the other side of the coin, we have a state ranked last in almost every key economic performance indicator. Recently Tasmania was again at the very bottom of the CommSec State of the states report. Catholic Social Services recently produced the Dropping off the edge report, which looks at relative disadvantage based on criminal convictions, employment, rates of disability support and low-income families, and it shows a similarly bleak outlook. The report shows that our most disadvantaged communities in 2007 were as disadvantaged, or more so, in 2014. Places like Brighton, George Town, the Central Highlands and Glenorchy all show growing disadvantage for low-income families. Even a slight improvement in employment late last year has been eroded by several months of job losses, although the last month was a bit better. Sadly, we also have the worst youth unemployment rate in the country, with four out of our five regions in the top 20 for the highest youth unemployment in the country.

When the proportion of those struggling in our community continues to grow every year, it is a sign of a structural economic problem and a failure by government and by communities. I have been making sure Labor understands not only these challenges in Tasmania but also the very many opportunities that we have. It is because of these realities that earlier this year the Labor leader announced the establishment of a Tasmania task force. The role of the task force is to develop a long-term strategy to grow jobs and to enable Tasmania's sustainable development into the future.

What Tasmania really needs is a vision that is about sustainable growth and change, not more cuts. The task force is developing this vision by consulting widely with Tasmanians on four key areas that we want to focus on: economic development—supporting transition to growing industries, including but not limited to renewable energy, boutique food production, aquaculture, and eco and cultural tourism; employment—growing employment, including jobs of the future, with particular focus on working with business and the community to improve opportunities in areas of high youth unemployment; education—expanding the skills base and increasing attainment rates to ensure the next generation is equipped to drive the new economy as well as to provide retraining and upskilling opportunities for experienced workers who lose their jobs; and growing Tasmania—building on the clean, green image Tasmania has and the premium reputation of our goods and services. Labor wants ideas on how you believe all three tiers of government can address these issues. I firmly believe that Tasmanians are sick of the short-term pork-barrel and they want lasting solutions for our state. Tasmanians are fiercely loyal about where we live, now more so than ever, but they want outcomes that benefit the whole community and that are lasting.

Over the last decade, through the confidence of Tasmanian businesses and backing from Labor in state and federal governments, we have seen the aquaculture industry grow to be worth over $600 million a year now, supporting almost 4,000 jobs. Likewise, Labor's considerable investment in irrigation, unlocking the huge potential of the state's agriculture sector, is now worth over $1 billion annually. Both of these industries now share bipartisan support. What we want is a plan for our state that has bipartisan support. To date we have had forums around the state in Burnie, Launceston and Hobart. We have also had industry-specific roundtables and individual meetings with many Tasmanians. More than 200 Tasmanians have contributed in person, and over 100 written submissions have already been received. Submissions for the Tasmanian task force close on 31 August, but we have more roundtables continuing after that.

I thank Labor shadow ministers who have been to our state, the shadow Assistant Treasurer, the shadow minister for agriculture, the shadow minister for ageing; and those ministers coming down in the future, the shadow minister for defence, the shadow minister for communications and the shadow Attorney-General. (Time expired)