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  • 7 hours ago
The Tasmanian treasurer has handed down the state budget, with 1700 public sector jobs set to be cut over the next four years. Experts have long warned the government must act on growing debt and Eric Abetz has chosen to give the heavy lifting to the public service. The plan has been welcomed by some as important progress, but a major global ratings firm has cast doubt on the state's ability to achieve its budget aims.

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00:02Cutting jobs will always be a tough sell.
00:05The budget papers are simply horrifying.
00:08The Treasurer is living in a dreamland.
00:09What is he cutting?
00:11In health, it's more than $700 million in cuts over four years.
00:16While much of that could be offset by a recent federal health agreement,
00:20there'll still be job losses.
00:21This is a health system that is already under enormous strain.
00:25It's under-resourced and under-staffed.
00:27There'll be $228 million in cuts in education.
00:31The department to undergo a review,
00:34its current spending described as unsustainable.
00:37They say it's going to be covered by 155 job cuts
00:39to backline staff in the Department of Education.
00:43I don't know where that's going to come from.
00:45Few areas of government will be spared.
00:47A combined $140 million to come out of justice and emergency services.
00:53We're not talking about how we can do things better.
00:56What we are talking about is austerity.
00:58The Treasurer says the impact on frontline jobs will be minimised
01:02and forced redundancies are not on the agenda,
01:05but now might be a good time for public servants to consider a voluntary redundancy.
01:10Now is about the best time possible for them to do so
01:14because the employment market is still quite viable for them to enter into.
01:21In terms of cost of living relief, the only new measure was another year of free public transport.
01:27But fees and charges for things like national park entry could be set to increase.
01:32The government to carry out an analysis to see if they are realistic.
01:36We need to have a balanced budget so as we have a strong balance sheet in times of crisis,
01:42like the fuel crisis, like the pandemic, and the government is heading in the right direction.
01:47One piece of good news is a $430 million GST revenue boost.
01:52It was revealed too late to be included in this budget,
01:55but could come in handy if the Treasurer has to cover a blowout or wants to save some jobs.
02:00So, let's do this.
02:00Let's do this.
02:01Let's do this.
02:01Let's do this.
02:02Let's do this.
02:02Let's do this.
02:03Let's do this.
02:03Let's do this.
02:03Let's do this.
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