Media release – 9 February 2024
Political leaders urged to work with business to get Tasmania moving
On Wednesday, Tasmania’s a number of major industry peak bodies met to discuss issues affecting Tasmanian businesses.
TCCI CEO, and meeting organiser, Michael Bailey said that many issues were discussed.
“Clearly, business conditions are challenging,” Mr Bailey said.
“Just like households, issues like power prices, inflation and interest rates are having an impact. Businesses are also struggling with skills and labour shortages.
“However, one of the biggest concerns was the high level of political uncertainty in Tasmania at the moment, but it’s not just early election speculation.
“We haven’t seen the contest of ideas between political parties looking to represent the community and the business sector that we had hoped for. If there is an early election, we want all political parties and candidates to look at how they can support businesses.
“Whatever the make-up of the next Parliament, we want the next Tasmanian Government to be unashamedly pro-business.
“There are more than 40,000 businesses in Tasmania providing the majority of jobs in the state and they deserve better.
“Key challenges that need to be resolved urgently include power prices and power availability, skills, labour supply and the participation rate. We also need to desperately reform the public sector and the State’s Government Business Enterprises and State-owned Companies.
“Businesses want a government that will be an active partner in tackling sovereign risk challenges and be a champion for business and investment.
“The peak groups that met yesterday will look to urgently discuss their concerns with Labor, the Liberals and the Greens in coming weeks.”
Peak groups represented at the meeting include:
CET
Property Council
Salmon Tasmania
TACC
TasICT
TCCI
TICT
TMEC
Communique – TCCI Industry Summity, 8 February 2024
Official Communique
Business Conditions
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian and Australian Governments to support Tasmanian businesses as they deal with significant cost increases, supply chain issues, labour and skills shortages and political uncertainty.
Politics and Tasmanian Business
This Tasmanian Industry Summit notes that Tasmanian political debates have increasingly taken on a polarising and ‘anti-business’ tone in recent years, and this has eroded public confidence in both the private sector and the Tasmanian Parliament.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on all current parliamentarians and candidates at the next election to engage in respectful policy debate that does not attack individuals and ensures that the Tasmanian Parliament and those in public life can operate in a safe workplace.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on all political parties to celebrate the achievements of Tasmanian business and support an environment that encourages Tasmanian business to invest, employ, and grow.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls for more accountable Government, where commitments are delivered in a timely manner.
Energy
This Tasmanian Industry Summit notes that Tasmanian businesses have experienced sharp increases in electricity prices in recent years and this has eroded investment, employment and further added to inflation.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit notes that Tasmania is facing an energy crisis where current levels of generation barely meet the current needs of Tasmanian households and businesses, and do not allow for further population growth or business investment in clean energy.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian Government to further support Tasmanian businesses and households as they deal with high energy price rises.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian Government to direct its energy businesses to invest in further electricity generation and transmission capacity to meet the future needs of Tasmanian households and business.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit supports the investment by the Australian and Tasmanian Governments in the Marinus Link project as a stimulus to the Tasmanian economy that will support the national transition to clean energy. This Summit calls on the Australian and Tasmanian Governments to ensure that the project is delivered in full and on schedule.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian and Australian Governments to facilitate and support new investments in renewable energy generation capacity.
Sovereign Risk
This Tasmanian Industry Summit notes that many industry sectors and Tasmanian businesses are concerned about the issue of sovereign risk, and this is having a significant negative impact on business confidence in many sectors and investment in major projects with a long time horizon.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian and Australian Governments to provide a clear and consistent approach to policies (including regulation) that impact on Tasmanian businesses and industries that rely on long term contracts, long term licences, or require long term investments.
Attacks on Tasmanian Business and Industry
This Tasmanian Industry Summit expresses concern at attacks on Tasmanian industry sectors and businesses by groups and individuals that have the express aim of shutting down legitimate businesses, impeding operations, or reducing demand for goods or services.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian and Australian Governments to let data and science inform decision making in relation to current and future projects or business operations with long time horizons.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian and Australian Governments to clearly articulate the rules and regulations that apply to industry projects and ensure that activist groups cannot overly frustrate the process.
Participation
This Tasmanian Industry Summit notes that Tasmania has a very low level of labour market participation and that this has a negative impact on the Tasmanian economy, Tasmanian business, and many Tasmanian households.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian Government to set a target of growing the Tasmanian participation rate to a level at or above the national average.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian and Australian Governments to invest in projects that aim to grow labour market participation by Tasmanians, with a particular focus on groups in the population with very low levels of participation. This Summit calls on Tasmanian businesses to provide opportunities for Tasmanians entering or re-entering the labour market.
Reform of the public sector, government business, and regulation
This Tasmanian Industry Summit notes that the scope of the Tasmanian Government continues to expand, and the size, cost and regulatory reach of the Tasmanian Government and its entities has reached record levels.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian Government to engage in reform of the public sector to ensure that it is fit for purpose, delivers value for money for taxpayers and applying modern risk based approaches to regulation.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian Government to deliver a sustainable budget and calls on the Australian Government to ensure that Tasmania receives its fair share of receipts from the Goods and Services Tax.
This Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian Government to review and reform the many government business enterprises and state owned companies to ensure that they deliver benefits to the Tasmanian economy, Tasmanian society, and Tasmanian business that justify their public ownership and operation.