When a driver uses their vehicle to intimidate or harm someone else on Tasmanian roads, that’s a serious and dangerous offence, not just expressing frustration. In Parliament, I spoke in support of the Police Offences Amendment Bill and the need to strengthen our laws to better protect Tasmanians. (more…)
Mr FERGUSON (Bass) – Honourable Speaker, I’m pleased tonight to rise, with a great deal of pride and gratitude, to acknowledge and reflect on the inaugural Dorset People and Business Awards, an event I attended last month. I was so pleased to be there. It was an absolutely brilliant opportunity to recognise the wonderful people, the vibrant enterprises, and the generous organisations that contribute so much to the strength and character of Tasmania’s glorious north-east.
At this point, I particularly acknowledge from Dorset Employment Connect the team of Kate Brill, Ashlyn Arnold, Zoe Lewis, and Daisy Arnold. They’re great people and they’re running a great outfit out there and doing a great job connecting jobs, people and businesses together with training opportunities. Also, the long standing North East Tasmania Chamber of Commerce do a fine job. They have a great committee led by Fiona Auton, and I think a former chair, Maria Branch, as well wonderful people. These two organisations have teamed up to establish these new awards to celebrate excellence across the wide range of industries and community functions in Dorset and across the north east. What they’ve been able to achieve is to have shone a light on the effort, the quiet perseverance in that community, the innovation and the commitment that local employers and enterprises are bringing to industry and community life in north east Tasmania. A very proud community in one sense, but also equally as humble, they’re not out there for accolades. That’s why I think these awards are playing such an important role in recognising and uncovering the effort and passion that’s out there, which deserves to be acknowledged.
I also want to congratulate – she won’t want me to say it, but I will – Ally Mercer, who’s also Citizen of the Year out there. She runs the Mechanics’ Institute Hall and does a wonderful job, has done so for many years. They put on a wonderful function for the community. It was just marvellous.
In that time that I’ve had, I acknowledge those people, congratulate them all and acknowledge the pride. I know that that event is going to go from strength to strength as we continue to uncover the talent, passion and generosity of the fine people of the north east of Tasmania.
You cannot demand more spending every day and then turn around and complain about the state of the budget.
In this speech to Parliament, I call out that contradiction directly — and make the case for something better: consistency, responsibility and a genuine commitment to Tasmania’s long-term financial position.
I also highlight a rare moment where Parliament worked as one in our state’s interest on GST reform — proof that when we choose to, we can rise above politics and deliver for Tasmania.
This is a speech about accountability, but also about leadership — and the standard Tasmanians should expect from all of us.
Watch the speech below, followed by the full Hansard transcript.
Mr FERGUSON (Bass) – Honourable Speaker, thank you to the Labor Party for bringing on this matter of public importance. I agree that the state’s finances are a matter of public importance, and I’ve said that for a very long time. We need to see a sense of belief across all sides of this parliament, in the need for responsible budget management and we need to see consistency on that. I’ve heard the Labor party in particular talking out of both sides of its mouth on this issue. On the one hand, almost daily, if not daily, raising issues of particular service areas and demanding that the government spend more money. On the other hand, it’s probably every other day, the Labor party decrying the state of the state budget and state finances, with an implication that the government has been spending too much money and should cut back or, depending on which podcast the shadow treasurer might be on, that we need to raise taxation and therefore restore higher levels of revenue going forward. That’s a political point which I stand by.
However, there has been a glimmer of hope. A positive thing has occurred, and I want to congratulate every member of this House who combined on our last sitting, to support the Treasurer’s motion on restoring genuine Horizontal Fiscal Equity (HFE) to the GST carve-up in this country. I wish I saw it more to be honest, but it was a moment where I saw this parliament combine around the state’s interest. We’ve had our squabbles many times, and we’ll have them in the future, where people are taking positions along party lines. I want to see when our state’s long-term interest is challenged by another level of government’s decision-making, that we as one parliament would speak with a clear voice for our state’s interests, just like the Tasmanian people would rather expect and demand that we do.
I believe it was a creditable day for this House when we sent a clear, and I believe unanimous, message to Canberra and the Productivity Commission that we want to see the original John Howard, Peter Costello model of GST sharing re-established in this country. That was a very pro-Tasmanian position to take, and we could cast on, and I won’t, about the history of how the HFE formula was changed about seven or eight years ago. I think it was an incorrect decision at that time, but that decision sat with both Liberal and Labor. That’s just a fact of history, and I want to move past that because it hasn’t been good for Tasmania – it’s been very good for Western Australia; no wonder that they’re the only voice rattling the cage right now to protect that un-Australian formula because it’s unjust and it’s been wrong.
As it turned out, despite the intentions of the Liberal government and the Labor opposition at the time, the predictions that were made at that time have not followed through. Western Australia has been running away with billions of dollars of surpluses, and a capacity to fund services that other states have not been able to match up with. Therefore, the No Worse Off Guarantee has not been sufficient, because all it’s done is bring the other states up to where they would have been. Meanwhile Western Australia is still ahead, and it’s been unjust.
I make these points. I want to see more of that: consensus thinking. Play your daily politics, but in the end, take a position that is for our state.
On budget management, I want to see that happen as well because this state, like every other, got its budget walloped during COVID, and frankly no state has recovered from that except Western Australia. The national finances are challenged in a similar way, but I want to see less of that hypocrisy. If the Labor Party want to attack the government over its so-called MPI on ‘cuts and waste’, and therefore attacking the government on fiscal discipline, then stop demanding that we spend more money all the time because you cannot have it both ways. Stop demanding robust finances while refusing to publish an alternative budget for the last 12 years. In every one of those 12 years the Greens have at least brought an alternative budget, and I want to see an end to that hypocrisy.
I want to say that I stand by the Treasurer as a responsible manager in this space and commend him for his work and in this minority parliament in particular, commend him for the way in which he’s introduced the multi-partisan budget forum. It’s a great initiative. I thank the Labor party for bringing forward this MPI here today so I can make a contribution.
Tasmanian families are feeling the squeeze from every direction. Higher interest rates, rising grocery bills, increased insurance costs and sharp fuel price spikes are putting real pressure on household budgets.
In Parliament on 15 April 2026, I spoke in support of free public transport fares as a practical, targeted response to help ease that pressure. This initiative is about giving people immediate relief, more choice in how they get around, and an opportunity to reduce everyday costs during a challenging period.
We are already seeing more Tasmanians using public transport, with strong increases in patronage across the state. That tells us this measure is not only providing relief, but also encouraging people to reconsider how they travel.
Below you can watch my speech and read the full Hansard.
Mr FERGUSON (Bass) – Deputy Speaker, I’m so pleased to rise tonight to speak to this important motion brought forward by my friend and colleague, Mr Vermey, the honourable member for Clark, speaking about fares. In this case, it is not just the importance of this particular initiative around free fares for this particular cost-of-living crisis period that every Australian is currently living through. I didn’t hear much about that from the whingeing members of the Labor Party who have been bemoaning their criticisms of some of the struggles within the public transport network in Tasmania. We’re doing this as an intervention to support our families during this particular period. I’ll come to some of those matters in a moment in the time allotted to me, but I want to emphasise that Australians and Tasmanians right now, their household budgets are taking a walloping.
Before we get to Iran and the fuel crisis that that has created, Australians and Tasmanians are paying more for their interest rates. That’s having impacts for renters because in some cases your landlords are passing on those costs to their renters over time – within the law – and as rental agreements come up for renewal, they get reviewed. People who are paying off their home have got massive increases in their interest rate bills from their bank. I doubt that nobody in this Chamber would not have had an email from their bank in the last month telling them that their interest rates are going up. They are. Groceries have increased massively. The price that people are paying today compared to just a few years ago on their family grocery bill is significantly higher. Insurance is high, and the government’s responding to that.
Energy prices. Liquid fuels right now are the current challenge, and it’s taken Tasmanian families and businesses by surprise. I can remember not long ago speaking to a fuel distributor in this state, I would say about six weeks ago, and I was saying to this person, ‘Wow, it’s amazing what you’re able to sell diesel for at the moment, $1.80 a litre.’ I said, ‘How are you doing it?’ We had an interesting discussion about how they were managing their volumes and their margins to give a very good price to commuters – $1.81 I think it was. It was not long ago and then of course we’ve seen the mess in the Middle East playing out and it’s affecting our people here.
I’m saying that because it’s the compounding of the challenge that’s really hurting. The Rockliff Liberal government is responding within the limited means that we have, with the capacity that our budget does have, which is limited. We’re supporting Tasmanian families with this particular initiative, and I applaud my colleague Mr Vermey for bringing this forward because it’s recognising a real problem. I don’t believe I’m inaccurate when I say that nobody’s been calling on the government to do this initiative before the government brought forward this initiative. I may be wrong about that. In the context of the cost-of-living crisis that Tasmanians have been feeling, this was a government-moved initiative.
I want to take us back about four or five years ago when we had half-price bus fares. That was a very similar response to this one that the government has been running for free fares from the end of March through to April, May, and June. That was following the invasion of Ukraine by that monster Putin who then caused so many challenges not just with fuel, but with steel and other building supplies and supply chain challenges; agriculture, fertiliser, the list goes on. We did half-price bus fares. It was successful as well. A very different context. We didn’t have those other challenges with groceries, with insurance, with energy, with interest rates, because they were all – for example, money was being lent at emergency interest rate levels at that time, home loans were like 3 per cent, 4 per cent. It’s double that now. The half price bus fare met those circumstances, and it was something that we were able to afford to do at that time.
This policy that we are discussing is straight forward in design and significant in its impact, about as significant as the impact I just heard across the Chamber. I think it does show how the Rockliff Liberal government cares about our community. This side of the House, we do care. I’m sure members around the Chamber care about their community. We know that we can’t fix all of these problems. I’ve listed many, but this has been one area where we can provide a twofold benefit. Other members will do a better job than me, talking about the public transport benefits. I’ve had a lot to do with public transport as a minister of this government, and we’re very proud of the achievements that we have delivered. I’ll come to some of the more current issues around, for example, new services, but it responds in a way that will support the family budget because many families are not able to fill up the tank right now. Many families have already been struggling with half-filling the tank. When you go through the experience of putting 30 litres of fuel in your car and it costs over $100 we’ve got a real problem because those 30 litres don’t go all that far, for over $100. What a change two months has made.
It’s about allowing people a new choice. Yes, many people are already using and enjoying public transport and so they won’t have to pay the fare for this period of time that they’ve been used to paying – I would argue affordable fares in an ordinary economy, affordable fares with concessions as well for people who need that extra support – but they’re getting that relief of not even having to pay those usually affordable fares, so it’s an overall offset on some of the big challenges that they’re facing with the rest of their budget.
I know it’s the case that people who aren’t accustomed to using public transport have discovered it or have rediscovered it. I think that’s great, and the proof is in the numbers. Mr Vermey, the honourable member for Clark, has already discussed that.
Regarding, cross-metro bus services, from 30 March until 8 April, we saw a 34 per cent increase in patronage on Launceston services and I’m very pleased as a Burnie boy to see a 35 per cent increase in Burnie, the town of my birth, a wonderful community.
I want to say a big thank you. I believe we can agree on this, the bus drivers are frontline public service providers. I do feel for them. They do it tough at times. We ought to all take a moment to thank them for their service to our state and keeping this state moving, as I’ve done on a million occasions about truck drivers, taxi drivers and people who are keeping this state moving.
I thank the providers including Kinetic, Metro, of course, Tassielink, a very wonderful operation, and in my community, Manions and Calows. They all play a role as public transport providers. Yes, Metro seems to always get the mention, but we can’t forget the others. They’re providing essential intercity and regional services and in my community, Manions are actually running urban services up and down the West Tamar and good on them.
I think that the surge of people discovering and rediscovering public transport out of necessity, is saving them big dollars. Yes, it’s maybe not quite as convenient as choosing their time of departure and arrival because they have to fit in with the schedule, but on the other side, they don’t have to pay for parking or worry about having to get to their car.
In the time remaining, I want to take some issue with the relentless negativity of the previous speaker who was decrying the Park and Ride. That is a success of our government. I received no lobbying for Park and Ride in Launceston before we announced that policy. That’s our initiative. Labor weren’t calling on us to do it, we’re doing it. The previous minister who joins us now has already made announcements about two of the three sites. We promised those over four years from 2024, so to suggest that they’re promises not being kept is ridiculous and unreasonable. They were promised over a four-year period and two of the three are progressing. I look forward to Legana being announced when it’s ready because the community will benefit and that’s what we are here for, for our community, not the negativity, for improvements, for outcomes and I, again, thank the members present.
Tonight I want to speak about men’s mental health, because our men are in trouble, and we need each other.
We love and appreciate the women in our lives. But as men, we also need to look after ourselves, and we need to look after one another.
I intend to speak plainly tonight, and honestly, because this issue demands it.
This is not abstract. It’s real. Late last year, far too many men in Northern Tasmania died by suicide. The impact on their families and communities – we’ve seen it – it has been profound, it has affected so many. For many tradies and people in business in our region, the pain has been compounded by repeated tragedies within the same peer groups and social circles.
This is very real. It is life and death.
It affects our mates, our brothers, our fathers, our sons – and the bloke standing next to us.
Please listen carefully to these statistics.
In 2024, 31 people died on our roads. Tragedies.
In the same year, 81 Tasmanians died by suicide. Fifty-nine were men. Twenty-two were women. Every one of those lives matter.
Both figures represent tragedy. But that comparison is very confronting.
Thirty-one road deaths. Eighty-one suicides. Around three quarters are men.
This is one of the leading causes of death for men in their younger and middle years. I believe we need to let that sink in.
This is not a fringe issue. Noone is saying that it is. It is a crisis.
More than half of Australian men say they have experienced mental health challenges. Yet us men are less likely than women to reach out and ask for help. Only a minority say they would reach out to a professional, and many say they would not seek help from anyone at all.
Why is that?
I personally believe there are several reasons, but for me one does stand out. We do not want to burden others, especially those we feel responsible for and we feel it’s our job to protect. We want to carry the burden for others, for the people we love, not lighten our load back the other way.
But that instinct, while an awesome quality of good men, can also be dangerous.
No man truly wants to end his life. I know that, I believe that. But I also believe that he wants to end the pain. And when that pain feels relentless, silence can take hold.
So what do we do?
I believe we bring this issue out of the shadows. We listen. We take men’s struggles seriously, and we create chances for honest conversation. A chance where a man can say, “I’m not okay,” without feeling like he has failed. Or even failed twice.
Because when that happens, things do shift.
When a man speaks, and a mate looks him in the eye and says, “I understand,” or even, “me too,” he is no longer alone. Some of the weight lifts.
I believe that is where hope can begin, with a real conversation.
And that is why the work of Spoke to a Bloke matters so much.
It was born from loss — from the death of a mate, Nick Dunn, who felt he had no one to talk to. What began as a simple walk in his memory between a few mates has grown into something far greater. From four men, to six, to now thousands walking together last month.
It is not about experts or programs and there is an important role for those. It is about mateship, having real conversations that are natural and genuine.
I want to especially acknowledge Jamie Campbell and his wife Nerida, together with their daughters Brit, Georgia and Laura, volunteers and supporters, for bringing Spoke to a Bloke to our local community in Launceston.
Jamie wants me to thank others, the co-founders Matt, Paul and Scott and their amazing team for giving Jamie the opportunity to become an ambassador for this great organisation. Jamie also thanks every bloke who walked including Richie, Peter, and Matt.
I joined that walk, along with about 35 others, in the early morning darkness. The conversations that we had along the way are ones I really will carry with me for life. I walked for Matthew.
Speak to a bloke.
Check in on your mates.
Start the conversation. Make it a real conversation.
And please, be the bloke who is willing to be real in return.
Congratulations to Jamie and your colleagues and all the team at Spoke to a Bloke.
