Tasmanian unions have launched a new campaign to push back against the state government’s plans to potentially privatise public assets, as political tensions rise over the future of key government-owned businesses.
The ‘Stop the Sell-Off, Stop the Cuts’ campaign will rally public opposition to any sell-offs of major infrastructure, while also fighting against proposed job cuts in the public sector.
Unions Tasmania Secretary Jessica Munday said Premier Jeremy Rockliff had launched “an extraordinary attack” on public assets and services.
“The Liberals have a plan to sell everything from the buses at Metro to the poles and wires owned by TasNetworks on the private market,” she said.
“On top of this, they’ve put up to 2,500 Tasmanian public sector workers in the firing line, refusing to say who will still have a job and who will get the sack.”
Labor leader Dean Winter has backed the union campaign, saying he and his party are firmly against privatisation.
“We do not support the privatisation of these assets,” Winter said. “We know when assets are privatised that the costs for users and that’s Tasmanians will go up.”
“It means power prices will go up. It means the price for getting on the Spirits and going to see the rest of Australia will go up. It means the price for ports will go up.”
Winter also warned that selling off public assets would wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars in annual dividends that currently flow back into the state budget.
Minister Jo Palmer dismissed these concerns as “scaremongering” and defended the government’s approach as “good government policy”.
“We are looking at how our government businesses best deliver for Tasmanians,” she said.
“This is about delivering the best outcomes for Tasmania just by having a really good look at what our GBEs are delivering for our state.”
