In Parliament, I spoke in support of the 2026 Tasmanian Budget and the Government’s approach to fiscal sustainability, infrastructure investment and protecting essential services across Tasmania. I spoke about the pressures facing Tasmanian families and small businesses, the importance of disciplined financial management, and why governments must make responsible decisions rather than simply promising higher spending. I also addressed the TT-Line project and the findings of the recent Public Accounts Committee inquiry report, as well as major investments in health, roads, education, transport and northern Tasmanian infrastructure.
This speech includes discussion about:
• Cost-of-living pressures
• Fiscal sustainability and budget repair (1.10)
• TT-Line and the Spirit of Tasmania project (4.00)
• Federal Labor’s lower cost of living broken promise (7.10)
• Launceston General Hospital redevelopment (8.43)
• Roads and transport projects in Bass including Tamar Bridge (11.00)
• Free public transport (16:45)
• Education infrastructure (17:25)
• Major regional infrastructure and events (17.55)
Watch the full speech below.
Click here for information on good news for Northern Tasmania in the 2026-27 budget
Mr FERGUSON (Bass) – Honourable Speaker, in recent times I’ve spent a great deal of my time as Liberal member for Bass travelling around the most beautiful and exceptional electorate in this country, Bass. Meeting people from Kings Meadows to Flinders Island, from Beaconsfield to Scottsdale through to Gladstone, one factor’s come through very clearly: our families and small businesses are under pressure. Our people are worried about the cost of groceries, fuel, mortgages, rent and, of course, petrol and diesel. Small businesses are facing the same pressures, but they also have rising wages and increases in Commonwealth taxation to attend to.
Tasmanians understand that there are no easy answers here. Families have had to tighten budgets themselves, and they expect governments to show the same discipline. At the same time, our community expects governments to keep investing in the hospitals, schools, roads and essential services that our communities rely upon every single day. What this calls for is a stronger economy and a caring community, exactly what this Budget seeks seeks to achieve.
The last few years have put enormous pressure on governments everywhere. The pandemic, the commission of inquiry, redress and civil case settlements, inflation, global instability and rising costs to government have changed the fiscal environment dramatically.
As a former treasurer of Tasmania, I take delight in sincerely congratulating the team, including Treasurer, Eric Abetz, for delivering his first Tasmanian Budget under difficult circumstances. This Liberal government believes in strong public services, responsible finances, protecting jobs and securing our state’s future. At a time when many governments are avoiding difficult decisions, this Budget brings much-needed fiscal discipline while continuing to invest in the needs of our Tasmanian community.
Having now participated for over 12 years as a member of this governing party, I know what long-term investment can achieve. I’ve seen it, but I’ve also seen how quickly fiscal pressures build when governments stop exercising restraint. Just look around the country and around the world. For me, in internal government meetings, parliamentary debates in this Chamber and my public statements, I have consistently argued for reducing expenditure growth, rebuilding fiscal buffers and making our fiscal strategy much tougher. The goal has been to return to balance, then to a fiscal surplus.
Governments have to make difficult decisions instead of pretending every pressure can be solved simply by higher spending. It is a false promise. To just spend more money to address your problems on its own will dig you a deeper hole. Our taxpayers understand the value of living within their means while planning for their future and I believe they expect the very same of us. At its core, that is what Liberal governments understand. You cannot build strong services on weak finances.
My people, families and communities in Bass are practical people. They work hard, they take responsibility and they want governments to do the same. They’re not asking for miracles from government, but they do want stability and want to see a plan for the future. They want infrastructure that keeps pace with growing subdivisions, growing trade, and a growing population, and as I’ve said, they want strong public services. They also want confidence that government is planning properly for the future instead of chasing headlines.
TT-Line has been a significant part of this Budget, and I’d like to address it. I’m speaking to those who continue to hold concerns about the TT-Line project, and I want to say that is absolutely fair enough. It has had significant implications for the Budget and for our state. I want to encourage anybody with genuine interest in the issue to read the Public Accounts Committee report published last November in this House. It’s a very good and fair report in my view. That report demonstrates that the reductive slogan that the government forgot to build the berth is wrong and misses the issue.
TT-Line repeatedly assured government the project would be delivered by July 2024 with the first ramp. The government became increasingly involved based on concerns raised with us by a stakeholder, and we escalated oversight in late 2023, again with assurances that we now know were out of touch with reality. During the 2024 election caretaker period TT-Line terminated its berth builder without telling the government. I believe it’s very safe to say that was a serious and, in my view, unforgiveable failure of governance. The Public Accounts Committee report also makes clear that the full position was far more complex than many Tasmanians were led to believe, particularly in relation to internal governance failures and information not reaching ministers when it should have.
Speaking about myself and my own role, as I’ve said before, I should have exercised much greater scepticism toward that management and their assurances. I should not have trusted them, and those individuals are culpable.
Regarding the politics and the ministerial responsibility, the record is clear and I stand by taking that responsibility. I’m also grateful that the Premier noted:
“Michael carried full responsibility for those who failed to deliver the job entrusted to them.” And he goes on to note: “The company eventually admitted its responsibility.”
Speaker and colleagues, I want to acknowledge that the new TT Line board and management have approached these issues with refreshing honesty and professionalism, in my view, and have accepted responsibility for the company’s failure under its former management. We now need to look forward. With the very positive intervention now close to finished, I believe Tasmanians should look forward with confidence and unity to the successful completion of the project, just a few months away. Won’t that be a great day for our state and every Tasmanian?
Tasmania and our people are not isolated from what is happening nationally. We’ve seen what happens when governments lose fiscal discipline and continue to increase taxes and spending while promising restraint. Federal Labor was elected promising cost-of-living relief and restraint. The now PM promised that life would be cheaper under him, yet families and businesses continue to face increasing pressure and uncertainty about the future.
We’re now seeing close to $80 billion in additional tax measures nationally, despite repeated assurances before the election of May last year. That is not a sustainable approach to long-term economic management and it sends shock waves through business confidence, but it also reinforces why disciplined budgeting matters here in our state to avoid taxation-led fiscal repair down the track or even bigger savings measures.
It’s far too easy for oppositions to demand more spending in every area of government while at the same time opposing any efficiency measure, and we’ve seen that this week. Governing responsibly requires better choices and more maturity than that, and that’s why this Liberal government is navigating through a difficult circumstance. We’d like to see more support around the Chamber, but also, importantly as part of the government strategy, no new taxes.
Healthcare investment remains one of the clearest examples of why careful financial management matters. Remember, you can’t have strong public services on a weak balance sheet. Demand for health services continues to grow across Tasmania, particularly in my suburban and regional communities.
Northern Tasmania deserves modern facilities capable of meeting that demand and I am so pleased with the continued investments at my local hospital, the Launceston General Hospital, which provides remarkable and loving care – and I say that advisedly – to our community. The continued redevelopment of the LGH remains a vitally important investment for our region. It is such a great institution. It’s where I met Professor George Razay on a very happy afternoon working at the Clifford Craig.
More than $363 million is committed towards this redevelopment and this includes the mental health precinct and the Northern Health Complex, including the Launceston Heart Centre. This is major infrastructure. It will make sure that our community in northern Tasmania has the hospital capacity it will need in the years ahead. It will mean better facilities for patients, improved working environments for our staff and expanded services closer to where people live.
This Budget also supports therapeutic services at the northern Arch centre and continues investment in mental health services, youth mental health support, women’s health initiatives and expanded access to healthcare through community pharmacies, broadening the role that pharmacists can play, and supporting longer pharmacy opening hours into evenings and weekends, will truly help families to get care sooner and closer to home. It will also ease pressure on GP clinics and emergency departments. I wish time would permit me to talk more about the pharmacy after-hours support. I believe it will be such a sensible investment, at not a high amount of money, that could actually provide a significant improvement to families’ quality of life.
Roads matter in Bass because people rely on them every single day to get about their study, work or recreational needs. Roads affect how people get to work, move freight, run businesses and keep our communities connected. That’s why continued investment in roads and transport remains a priority in this budget. I congratulate my government colleagues for that decision. The East Tamar Highway is one of our state’s most important freight and transport corridors, including as the primary heavy vehicle connection to Bell Bay, Tasmania’s third largest port. Planned works focus on increasing capacity, improving safety and freight access, supportive, active and public transport, and upgrading road surfaces.
I’m tremendously excited about the West Tamar Corridor Improvement Plan. I played a lead role in this, and I congratulate the department and Minister Vincent for pushing ahead with this. That plan will deliver important upgrades along one of our region’s busiest roads. Projects include additional lanes between Freshwater Point Road and Acropolis Drive at Magana, now basically coming to a close. It’s been a great project. Improved pedestrian safety through Exeter, and I believe, some of the most exciting new works for the West Taylor Highway coming up with road and active transport improvements through Riverside. We have some real challenges on that dated highway. I’m really looking forward to seeing the safety improvements of the Forest Rd junction and I look forward down the track to seeing the duplication at Barnes Hill. This will really improve the quality of life for our community. It’s Liberal government that’s designed these works. I look forward to getting to see them implemented.
One thing I’ve learned over many years in government, is that major infrastructure projects really need champions in government to deliver them. They don’t deliver themselves. They need discipline, persistence, careful planning, strong teams and strong project management. I saw that first hand with the Royal Hobart Hospital redevelopment. As a new government, 12 years ago, when I became Health minister, that project was in the gutter. The floor plate had been reduced, the helipad taken away. The design was in chaos, had not been signed off, even the methodology was unresolved. Can you believe there was actually serious consideration being given to building the top half of the building before the bottom half? Ask me later, I can explain. Not a brick had been laid.
We had to pause that project to rescue it. Look at it now, delivering a facility where our staff can provide world-class healthcare, life-saving aeromedical retrievals to the statewide trauma centre, saving lives on a regular basis. That was done through disciplined management, strong project oversight and an outstanding project team. We put Ben Maloney in charge of that task. We turned that project around into a modern and functional hospital that’s now delivering the exceptional care that I described, every single day. Importantly, that included reinstating the rooftop helipad that had been removed by the previous government, because critical care access matters so much in the state’s capital.
Also reflect on the Bridgewater Bridge project. Again, we put Ben Maloney on that job. When I became Infrastructure minister, that project had no more than a business case. We secured the Commonwealth Funding Partnership, established a dedicated project team, got the planning approvals – with my friend and colleague, Roger Jaensch – we got the major project legislation that achieved that planning process, developed Tasmania’s first ever early contractor involvement procurement model, and advanced the project through the tender and delivery plan.
Good infrastructure needed more than slogans and announcements. It required those competent people, the hard work, long-term thinking and the willingness to do difficult work properly, against what unfortunately we’ve witnessed with projects, occasional undermining, which we did see on the Royal, as well as the bridge, and we’re now seeing with the stadium. Ministers and government need to continue to push hard to achieve project success.
Transport planning in Launceston is also about looking beyond immediate pressures and planning for the next generation. As northern Tasmania grows, congestion pressures and transport demands will continue to increase.
Like Hobart with its geography, Launceston has a similar puzzle because of the shape and design of the Tamar River in the Esk rivers. The sort of long-term thinking matters, especially when it comes to the proposed Tamar Bridge. Budget paper number 1, page 180, confirms the Tamar Bridge remains an active project proposal based on an 80 per cent Australian and a 20 per cent Tasmanian government contribution. I’ve championed this project at every stage because northern Tasmanian needs long-term transport resilience and better connectivity across the Tamar.
The business case has now been before the Australian Government since February 2024. Two years and three months it’s been with Canberra. I believe northern Tasmania deserves a proper answer, and now is a very good time for the Commonwealth to respond and join us as a project partner.
The continuation of free public transport really is providing practical cost-of-living relief for workers, students, seniors and families, and I include that people who haven’t been public transport users in recent times; they’re taking advantage of it now. That means more money in the pockets of families each and every week and less pressure on household budgets.
As the Premier has said, this is something that we’ve been able to do during a period of high national inflation, and I personally believe it will continue to see greater people using public transport when fares return.
To Education. As a teacher myself, passionate about education and especially literacy, education infrastructure remains another important long-term investment. I’m so pleased the budget continues upgrades and improvements at schools including Port Dalrymple, South George Town, Mowbray Heights and Ringarooma Primary – great schools. Students and teachers really do need to have learning environments that are modern, functional, and fit for purpose.
The Budget also continues investment in community infrastructure and regional livability. It includes support for major events such as Festivale, Junction Arts Festival, the Australian Musical Theatre Festival that I enjoyed with family last weekend, and the V8 Supercars, which I love, but not as much as Rob Fairs; he adores it. These events do support local jobs. They bring people to our state and to our regions, and they are supporting tourism, regional pride and of course jobs, and that’s a wonderful thing.
The Budget also provides support for projects including the new Launceston Convention Centre, an amazing proposal. I think it’s something that Liberal and Labor does agree on. It’s an exciting opportunity for our region. It’s not going to see events taken from other venues. It’s going to grow the pie. It’s going to grow the conference market for Launceston and northern Tasmania. I can’t wait to see that project coming out of the ground. A massive tribute there to Errol Stewart, who’s been the pioneer and champion for that project.
As I close, I acknowledge that budgets like this are never easy. Being responsible with taxpayers’ money is not simple, but it does mean taking making choices, hopefully wise ones, setting priorities and thinking beyond the next election cycle.
The Budget does continue to invest in essential infrastructure and the services that Bass relies upon, while recognising that responsible financial management today protects opportunities for future generations.
As a proven loyal Liberal I remain entirely convinced that Tasmania’s long-term success continues to depend upon good planning, sensible investments and governments prepared to make difficult decisions to make them as early as possible rather than leave them for next generations. That’s why I support this Budget. Congratulations.
