Media Release

Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Treasurer

Thursday 12th May, 2011

Jobs growth slows to a crawl

Today’s unemployment figures show that jobs growth in Tasmania has slowed to a crawl.

Only 100 full time jobs were created in Tasmania last month, down from 200 in March and 300 in February.

Tasmania’s jobless rate on trend terms remains the highest in the nation at 5.7 per cent.

But rather than having a plan to get more people into jobs, the Green-Labor Government have a plan to get people out of jobs by closing down the forest industry, and sacking up to 2,300 polices, teachers and nurses.

Tasmania needs a government that is concerned about the jobs of their fellow Tasmanians, not the jobs of themselves.

In contrast, the Liberals have been listening to the community and have a plan to create more jobs through positive policies like a local benefits test, a single state-wide residential building code, and full retail electricity competition, putting downward pressure on electricity prices for Tasmanian small businesses.