Taxpayer money spent on interest payments will soon overtake the government’s spending on ambulances and emergency departments combined, according to the budget figures.

When the Liberals came to office in 2014, Tasmania had $208 million in the bank. Now, after 11 years of Liberal budget mismanagement, Tasmania is staring down the barrel of almost $11 billion worth of net debt.

The interest payments on the Liberal legacy debt will reach $650 million per year, more than $2 billion across the forward estimates – and that won’t even start to pay it down.

That means that we are going to be spending more on interest payments than on ambulances and emergency combined.*

Tasmania is in this situation solely because of the wasteful spending and incompetence of the Liberals. The new Spirits project alone is half a billion dollars over budget and costing our economy $500 million a year while they aren’t operating.

If you can’t manage the budget, you can’t govern Tasmania.

The results of having the Liberals in charge for 11 years speak for themselves. Tasmania’s finances have never been worse, and they’ve shredded any budget management credibility they once had.

*2025-26 Budget Paper No. 2 – Volume 1 pg. 104.

Josh Willie MP
Shadow Treasurer