Our feedback from the school communities is that the process has been rushed and there has simply been inadequate discussion on the needs of students and parents.

Under a Hodgman Government, proper process would take place, and everyone affected would have a good and fair opportunity to express their views.

That will mean that the decision which is ultimately taken will be properly informed.

The Liberals have committed over $28 million to deliver new and expanded services that will make a significant difference to people’s lives.

The funding includes $5 million to begin an innovative new direct funding model Your Care, Your Choice to allow people with disabilities, their families and carers, to arrange the supports they require based on their individual circumstances.

In particular, mothers with children with disabilities have specifically told the Liberals this is the model they want to see adopted in Tasmania, because this program is flexible, individual and will make a real difference to their everyday lives.

They have also told us they need more respite options, and we have committed $6.1 million to significantly increase the range of respite available for families caring for people with disabilities in this State.

Unless regular respite can be provided, there is a real risk of families falling into crisis.

We have also provided $3 million for a no-interest loans scheme so that people with disabilities, families and carers can access funding for motor vehicle modifications or purchase, and home renovations.

Mr Whiteley said:

The Liberals’ funding also includes $3 million in additional funding for existing service providers.

We acknowledge there has been funding shortfalls under a State Labor Government, and providers are struggling to meet their service obligations.

Additional funding is needed to meet these shortfalls, and to meet the additional needs of elderly people in residential services who wish to ‘retire’ from attending day support services but are currently unable to do so.

A Hodgman Liberal Government also commits to providing more funding for National Disability Services as the peak body in a partnership to further research into unmet need, ensuring a disability workforce for the future and helping the public sector and business maximize employment for people with disabilities in the State.

The Liberals also begin, with the Brain Injury Association of Tasmania, the overdue process of developing a five-year, whole-of-government strategic plan for Acquired Brain Injury in Tasmania, with $95,000 to determine future services, support and resourcing.

This policy, combined with already announced policy for autism, the A-team, funding for Special Schools and a $4.5 million injection into the Community Equipment Scheme, for equipment, aids and technology, for people with disabilities, shows the Liberals are the only party at this election prepared to stand up for people with disabilities in Tasmania.

And only the Liberals will ensure real change for them, their families and carers.

We commit to ensuring that the $42.5 million in road funding for North-East freight roads that was announced three years ago is expedited and spent on priority projects such as the Bridport Main Road as a matter of urgency.

We will build on this investment and provide up to further $6 million for new projects to immediately support jobs, roads and the North-East community.

Over the last four years the State Liberals have taken the time listen and understand the challenges the people of the North-East face. As a result the party has committed to a range of initiatives aimed at supporting and creating local jobs, building local roads and the investing in the broader community in its North-East Package.

The initiatives we are announcing today will ensure that local roads are upgraded and importantly local jobs are created.

Furthermore in addition to the funding commitments made today a Hodgman Liberal Government also understands very much the concerns of the agricultural and forestry sectors here in Dorset. We know that water development has not been at the pace that the community would like or needs and we are committed to ensuring that water projects in the North East are given the priority attention they deserve.

The forestry sector faces challenges in both the short and longer term. We are prepared to back the industry as we have in the past and will commit to working side by side with it to face the challenges ahead. We have already acknowledged the need for short term assistance for contractors and will continue to listen and act when necessary to ensure that this very important industry sector remains supported.

We commit to expediting the $42.5M for North east freight routes as after three years the community has waited long enough. Dorset council have made a strong case for $10M of this funding to be committed to the Scottsdale to Bridport main Rd as one of the priority projects for the NE which we support.

The new projects announced today are:

• $4 million to continue the Lilydale Road upgrade. This is not conditional on federal funding however there is an expectation that the Federal Government will also commit funding. Furthermore our new independent body, Infrastructure Tasmania, will provide advice to government on prioritising roads in the North-East for the State’s Infrastructure Plan. This will ensure funding certainty in future based on independently assessed priorities.
• $1 million to begin works on the unsealed section of the Tomahawk to Gladstone road. This road is a key tourism and freight link road around the North East and the proposed works should assist contractors who have lost work due to the delay in the Musselroe wind farm project. Support from the Federal Government will also be sought.
• The proposed Bridport Western Road Access Project will be referred to Infrastructure Tasmania for consideration as a part of its development of a strategic infrastructure plan.
• $150,000 will be committed to upgrade the Bridport Recreation Ground as a first step to enable it to develop into a multi-purpose facility able to service the needs of this growing community into the future.
• $120,000 will be provided over three years to enable the Scottsdale Ex- Services and Community Club to undertake urgently needed repairs and maintenance and commence capital projects.
• $60,000 is committed over three years to assist the continued development of the North East Rivers festival and especially the centrepiece of this festival the iconic Derby River Derby.
• $75,000 will be provided over three years to enable the Dorset Men’s Shed to continue the appointment of a part-time co-ordinator to enable it to continue its vital work in supporting men through a range of initiatives.
• $100,000 for a feasibility study to be conducted by the Department of Economic Development on the benefits to the North-East community of attracting an international golf event at the Barnbougle Dunes golf course at Bridport.
• $90,000 towards new changing rooms and office facilities to further enhance the Bridport Bowls Club’s growing operations.
• $150,000 to strengthen aged care services in the North-East and to allow for a feasibility study to look at ways to improve aged care in the North-East.
• $70,000 to assist the Scottsdale Football Club to undertake essential maintenance at its clubrooms and meet a shortfall in the cost of lighting its ground.
• $75,000 to enable the Dorset Council to develop rest rooms/comfort stop facilities in Derby to enhance services available to visitors and build on the development that has occurred in recent years.

These announcements add to the Rapid Response GP Unit and Development Fund, already announced for Northern Tasmania. The Tasmanian Liberals understand Tasmanians are entitled to health care when and where they need it.

A Hodgman Liberal Government will fund a $500,000 a year to a Rapid Response GP and Development Fund to ensure no Tasmanian is left without primary health care in the event of unexpected GP shortages. Lack of access to primary health care puts additional pressure on hospitals and can compromise the health of Tasmanians.

The RRDF will be managed by GP North and GP Workforce in the north of the State, and will have the ability to act swiftly to respond to community needs, with a team comprising a GP, practice nurse and practice manager, to ensure patients have continuity of care in urban and regional communities in the north of the State.

The announcements today will improve community infrastructure, build on current investments in the North east and importantly create local jobs for local people.

Labor has failed the Flinders Island community over almost 12 years in government. Most recently, the debacle surrounding the Flinders Island shipping service highlights Labor’s ineptitude and lack of interest in the people of Flinders Island.

The people of Flinders Island deserve real change – real change that only a majority Liberal Government can deliver.

First and foremost, we will deliver real change to Flinders Island’s shipping service by empowering the Flinders Island community to take control of the Island’s vital shipping service.

Rather than the state government subsidising a shipping service as has been done unsuccessfully in the past, we will provide $750,000 over three years to the Flinders Island Council to empower the island to be in control of its sea transport links. In conjunction with the Council, we will establish a board to manage shipping services to the Island, to ensure the shipping debacle that occurred in the last two years doesn’t happen again.

We will also ensure that as part of Infrastructure Tasmania’s state-wide infrastructure plan, that a 10 year ports plan will be developed for Flinders Island. Once the plan has been finalized, Tasports will be tasked to develop a schedule of priority works, expected to be up to $5 million.

Furthermore we will provide $180,000 over three years to assist the island to further develop its tourism industry, strengthen the Flinders brand and its penetration into key markets.

We will also:

• Provide $100,000 to develop a Whitemark Master Plan;
• $150,000 to enable the council and community to further develop renewable power generation and investigate and develop a community ownership model for the Island;
• $220,000 to towards maintenance on the Whitemark Link Road in 2010-11, and we will consider a formal transfer of the road to the State Government once due diligence has been undertaken;
• Funding of $30,000 over three years for the transition program to assist young islanders undertake further education or employment on mainland Tasmania.

Residents of Flinders Island will also benefit from the real change brought about by the Liberal’s policy to secure the ongoing future of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the introduction of “flying clinics.”

Only a majority Hodgman Liberal Government can provide the people of Flinders Island with the real change they need.

Under a Hodgman Liberal Government, there will be no more experimentation with our childrens’ education.

We will overhaul Tasmania Tomorrow based on strong feedback from teachers, students, parents, industry, and the community that Labor has got it wrong.

Mr Bartlett’s education experiment has divided Tasmania’s community and forced students to choose too early in life (just 16 years old) whether they want to pursue an academic or technical career, at a time when international researchers were warning against early streaming.

We will tackle retention, improving our qualifications outcomes and absenteeism by putting an increased focus on the critical middle schooling and high school years.

Tasmanians have had enough of noisy and glossy reform announcements such as Essential Learnings, and Tasmania Tomorrow, which have failed to deliver the educational outcomes that Tasmanian students need for the 21st Century and beyond.

What we will do:

We will overhaul Tasmania Tomorrow.
Tasmania Tomorrow is a failed educational experiment. We do need to improve education outcomes in this state but David Bartlett’s policy has made things worse, not better, with retention rates continuing to fall and students forced to choose between academic and vocational futures too early.

It is a fact that Tasmania’s retention rates have gone backwards under Labor since 2004, and have fallen still further under the first year of Tasmania Tomorrow.

Under our plan, all Colleges which have transitioned to the Polytechnic and the Academy will be returned to their status as Colleges, and will offer both academic and vocational/technical training education from 2011 onwards.

In addition, regional and rural high schools will take on an expanded role to years 12

The Tasmanian Liberals recognise that some parts of Tasmania Tomorrow have worked, in particular, the Skills Institute. For that reason, rather than returning to the old TAFE system, we will retain the Skills Institute and expand its operations to cater for adult vocational and technical skills training, second chance and adult education which has been the responsibility of the Polytechnic.

We will revitalise our high schools
The Tasmanian Liberals understand that a good High School education is a vital ingredient to post-year retention. That is why we will invest an additional $12 million ($4 million per year) to support the revitalising of our middle and high schools in Tasmania.

We will expand Rural and Regional High School educational responsibility to Year 12
We will ensure that the 16-18 year old learners in their community are accessing, actually participating in, and completing academic and vocational training whether that is through the local Trades Training Centre, The Skills Institute, the High School, or an alternative training system.

Expanded capital works program
We will establish a Renewing Our High Schools Capital Works Fund of $8 million over four years for the redevelopment of secondary school facilities throughout the State.

Pathway Planners
We will invest in and valuing pathway planning officers in our students career and vocational learning pathways by providing an additional $7.5 million to support up to 35 new Pathway Planners in our schools and colleges.

More professional development
We will invest in improving teacher quality and capacity to make a real difference to improving education outcomes for our children by providing $1.95 million ($650,000 each year over the next three years) to our schools for additional teacher professional development.

Labor has failed Tasmanian students. For too long, our kids have been treated as guinea pigs in an educational experiment of the Labor Party.

Mr Bartlett has made it is clear that he will not making changes to his failed Tasmania Tomorrow experiment.

On March 20, Tasmanians will have a choice – four more years of experimentation with our children’s education, with worse results, or the real change and results focussed plan put forward by the Tasmanian Liberals.

For full details on this exciting policy, please visit www.tasliberal.com.au

The Tasmanian Liberals believe there are great opportunities for Tasmania, as the first cab off the rank, to capitalise on the NBN, and get the jump on our competitors.

As Premier I would work with the Federal Government to ensure a speedy roll-out of the NBN, and then actively pursue ways to capitalise on the benefits it presents to our states.

A Hodgman Liberal Government will:

• appoint a Minister to be directly responsible for Information and Communications Technology and the Digital Economy;
• create the positions of Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer in government. The Chief Technology Officer will put in place a whole-of-government strategy to encourage and create investment and jobs in ICT, while the Chief Information Officer will ensure that the Government itself is taking advantage of ICT in the way it operates and in the public services it provides.
• create a small unit called the Digital Economy Unit at a cost of $500,000 per year, which will answer directly to the ICT Minister;
• actively identify and pursue opportunities for Tasmanian businesses through the NBN, and look at ways to attract new businesses to the state through greater capacity broadband capacity;
• invest in educating and training Tasmanians, and Tasmanian business operators, to build digital literacy and increase the uptake of ICT, increase awareness and build our capabilities; and
• actively pursue opportunities to provide better, more efficient public services – in our hospitals and schools, in promoting regional development and social inclusion, and for the thousands of Tasmanians who interact with government each day, through more innovative, responsive and efficient ways made possible by this technology.

An already announced Liberal policy is to establish a new, expert, body – Infrastructure Tasmania – which will develop a state-wide infrastructure plan for the state within nine months of the election.

The NBN and fibre optic cable is of course vital social and economic infrastructure, and I can today confirm that proper planning of the roll-out of the Tasmanian broadband network will be a critical part of the State Infrastructure Plan.

When I was the federal member for Bass, the Liberal government funded the RFDS with $5m from the 2007 Federal Budget. This provided funding for primary health care services to people on our remote Bass Strait islands, including a place I hold dear in my heart, the community of Flinders Island. I know it has meant a great deal to the community, and I’m proud of my role in assisting the RFDS.

But what of the Bartlett plan to downgrade or move our RFDS base to Hobart?  Of course the Bass Labor MPs haven’t wanted to talk about this issue because the Bartlett plan is obviously totally misguided. The Flying Doctor service is not an area to look for savings, and moving the base south would mean much longer wait times for people needing urgent medical attention in the north, and longer travel times for transfer to Melbourne.

We can’t trust Giddings and Bartlett to preserve and protect the RFDS.

A Hodgman Liberal Government will safeguard the future and guarantee Launceston remains the home of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Tasmania, while delivering innovative new “flying clinics” to Tasmanians in remote areas.

By entering into a strategic and capital-sharing partnership with the Royal Flying Doctor Service (a not for profit organization), and the Australian Government, the benefits for Tasmanians will be significant.

This partnership will benefit Tasmania by –

• Introducing a new fully equipped King Air B200C in 2011 to provide inter-hospital transfers and emergency retrievals;
• Retaining the existing fixed wing aircraft as a back-up for maintenance and to deliver new “flying clinics” to Tasmanians such as the West Coast, East Coast, Bass Strait islands and far North-West;
• Retention of more than $1 million in infrastructure invested by the RFDS in Launceston;
• Keeping the leading edge aero medical simulator (currently being commissioned in Launceston), making the State a national centre for excellence for flight paramedic training in Australia;
• Retention of Commonwealth funds facilitated by the RFDS for primary health services to the Bass Strait islands.

This partnership is exciting for Tasmanians living in remote areas of the State, including the North East and Flinders Island.

It means we retain a much-loved and respected iconic service in Tasmania, we retain a professional workforce and an organization with an excellent reputation and national networks, and the RFDS is also committing to redirect all funds raised by their activities in Tasmania into their traditional services in the State.

The exciting and added bonus of our plan is a second aircraft which opens up opportunities for “flying clinics” to be operated by the RFDS as it currently does in other States.

These “flying clinics” would see regular visitation programs by health professionals and allied health services, including dental services, into remote areas of the West, East and North-West Coasts, as well as the Bass Strait Islands.
Tasmanian taxpayers also win; it is estimated this partnership will save in excess of $6.8 million in capital expenditure, and approximately $823,000 per annum in operating expense savings.

Under the Liberal plan those savings will be redirected into providing the “flying clinics” on a regular weekly basis.
Importantly, the total cost to the Government and taxpayers to provide a significantly enhanced level of service to the community will be substantially lower than any contestable State contract could achieve.

If the RFDS were lost to Tasmania – and the State Labor Government has foreshadowed reconsideration of its contract – Tasmania will also lose millions of dollars of investment in infrastructure including the Launceston hangar and new simulator, a professional workforce, Commonwealth funds (only available to States that deliver “traditional” RFDS services).

A profit -based operator would need to duplicate similar infrastructure or purchase RFDS assets at a significant premium.

The Liberal-RFDS plan would require the Australian Government to contribute 33% or $2.76 million of the capital cost of the new aircraft, with the balance shared equally between a Hodgman Liberal Government and the RFDS at $2.75 million each.

Having met with the RFDS and local aero-paramedics about the importance of their service and affirmed my strong support I am delighted with this policy position. I recognise and congratulate my Liberal Leader Will Hodgman and our Health Spokesman Brett Whiteley for their joint announcement (above) 14 January 2010.

Our policy also ensures that investment in Tasmania’s water and sewerage infrastructure is not compromised, and that local council dividends will not be compromised.

The four-point plan is:

1) Freeze prices for one year from 2010-11. While we are fixing Labor’s mess we will not expect Tasmanians to pay the 5% increase next year that Labor has demanded. This means that water and sewerage bills will be kept at current year prices for 2010-11 while we fix Labor’s mess;

2) Immediately conduct a comprehensive review of the current structure and operation of Labor’s failing water and sewerage reforms to seek efficiencies and cost savings, and to ensure the structure is best placed to access Federal government funding. To be completed by December 2010;

3) Provide a four year guarantee that during the next term of Government price rises on water and sewerage bills will remain at or below 5%;

4) Empower Tasmanians to reduce their own water and sewerage bills by introducing a State-wide framework for grey water and rainwater tank use, and water savings measures such as dual flush toilet and water saving shower heads, by providing financial incentives to encourage their take up.

Labor recently announced a political quick-fix to this problem by giving nearly $60 million to the water corporations over the next three years to lower bills to a 5% increase.

However, the Government will not commit to what will happen with water and sewerage bills in three years time and have only agreed to a review whilst the Regulator once again sets the price.

Labor’s approach is a band aid solution designed to limit the community backlash over the election period. In contrast, we will fix it and we will do it immediately.

Earlier this year the Government announced it would try and save money without affecting frontline services.  But it looks like the Government’s priorities are to save itself and abandon some of the services that Tasmanians rely on, breaking its promise to Tasmanians to save frontline services from budget cuts.

Last week we found out that the Government was withdrawing support for Lifeline’s victims of crime counselling services in the south and north-west of the State.

Yesterday the Tasmanian Liberals revealed that as many as 80 jobs would be cut at the Royal Hobart Hospital, increasing the workload on the remaining staff and putting an already stretched health system under even more pressure.

Today we see that the Government now has the Royal Flying Doctor Service in its sights. In 2007-08, the Flying Doctors helped 1,654 patients.

Targetting essential services, such as the Flying Doctors, to make savings is absolute madness. Relocating the service to Hobart would also be a mistake. Launceston is the more effective base, because it minimises travel times to the Bass Strait Islands and for transferring patients to Melbourne.

These three examples show that this Government is incapable of making the right decisions. The place to start making savings is in the army of ministerial advisers and spin doctors.

It shows that this Government has warped priorities when it would rather cut funding to Lifeline or the Royal Flying Doctors rather than non-essential services.

Before the Government starts hacking away at vital community services, we need to know if the savings measures in other areas are being made. For example, what cuts have the Premier and Treasurer made to their own budgets, or are they expecting Tasmanians to bear the brunt of the pain while maintaining their own empires?

I have long been concerned that this Government was so focused on short-term politics and looking after itself rather than the long-term interests of Tasmanians.