Tasmanian Labor is promising to freeze car registration costs for 12 months and halve rego fees for apprentices if elected, as the party looks to ease cost-of-living pressures for struggling households.
Under the plan, apprentices would save around $300 a year on their vehicle registration, while the average driver would avoid what was most recently about a $15 fee hike.
Labor leader Dean Winter said the measures recognise not only the state’s budget crisis but also the financial squeeze facing everyday Tasmanians.
“Household budgets are being strangled,” he said. “Power prices are going up, car registration, groceries, petrol, you name it, it’s going up.”
“We want to acknowledge that there’s not just a budget crisis in Hobart, but there’s also a budget crisis in so many Tasmanian households.”
The registration freeze would kick in from December 1 and cover all household cars, utes, vans and motorcycles.
At the moment, annual rego renewal fees range from about $602 for three-cylinder cars to $745 for larger seven and eight-cylinder vehicles.
Liberal Treasurer Guy Barnett has dismissed the policy as “yet another con”, arguing it would save “the average car user a measly $15 a year”.
Registration fees for four-cylinder cars rose by 2.36% from July 2024 to July 2025, increasing from $636.42 to $651.44.
Hairdressing apprentice Ellen Felmingham, who joined Winter at the announcement, said her $600 annual rego bill causes her constant financial stress.
“Every pay cheque that comes in, I’m living pay cheque to pay cheque. I have to budget out my pay cheque,” Felmingham said.
“I could simply pay my bills and not have to be stressed out every night before I go to bed, thinking, wow, how am I going to keep the roof over my head and feed myself tomorrow?”
Winter said the policy specifically targets apprentices because they often feel the pinch while trying to get their careers off the ground.
The $12 million plan will be funded from $1 billion in savings it claims to have identified to help tackle the state’s budget woes.
