Tasmania
I did most of my education in Tasmania and, after spending almost 34 years on what Tasmanians call ‘the mainland’, returned to Tasmania in December 2014. Both while I was living away, and since returning, I’ve maintained a keen interest in the progress (or, at times, lack of it) of Australia’s smallest state. The pieces here represent some of my efforts to advocate for policies which, in my opinion, would result in a stronger Tasmanian economy and improved living standards for Tasmanians.
Tasmania’s “Interim” 2025-26 Budget – An Opportunity Missed to Start the Task of Budget Repair
Economic Policies, Tasmania | 6th November 2025My take on today’s Tasmanian “interim” 2025-26 Budget presented by Treasurer Eric Abetz. I see it as a missed opportunity to ‘get on’ with the task of ‘budget repair’, which as the Tasmanian Treasury has been pointing out since 2019, only gets harder the longer it is put off.
Tasmania’s Economy and Public Finances – a pre-Budget Update
Tasmania | 4th November 2025Ahead of the presentation of an ‘interim Budget’ for the 2025-26 financial year by new Treasurer Eric Abetz on Thursday 6th November, here is a set of charts depicting the performance of Tasmania’s economy relative to the rest of Australia, and the condition of Tasmania’s public finances. It’s not pretty.
Tasmania’s Productivity Challenge
Tasmania | 28th October 2025Saul Eslake’s presentation to a Workshop for staff at the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics at the University of Tasmania on 28th October 2025.
The importance of agriculture to Tasmania’s economy
Commodities, Tasmania | 21st August 2025Agriculture accounts for a significantly larger proportion of economic activity and employment in Tasmania than in any other state or territory. And it’s something that Tasmania is good at: agriculture is one of only five industries where labour productivity in Tasmania is higher than the corresponding national industry average. That’s also reflected in the relatively […]
Another hung parliament solves nothing about Tasmania’s dire fiscal position
Australian Society and Politics, Publications, Tasmania | 21st July 2025Op-ed published in the Australian Financial Review 0n 20th July 2025, about the outcome of the Tasmanian state election held the previous day.
Tasmania’s public finances – a comparison with other states and territories in eight charts
Economic Policies, Tasmania | 25th June 2025With all eight Australian states and territories having presented their 2025-26 Budgets, it’s clear that, by most metrics, Tasmania’s public finances are in a worse condition than those of any other jurisdiction – a judgement underscored by the Tasmanian Treasury in its Pre-Election Financial Outlook Report released on 25th June 2025, which vindicates all of […]
Tasmania’s next government needs to have credible plans to return the budget to a cash surplus and reduce debt
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Publications, Tasmania | 17th June 2025Unfunded pork-barrelling accounts for more than three-quarters of the increase in Tasmania’s ‘general government’ net debt between 2017-18 and the forecast for 2027-28. During the campaign for the election to be held on 19th July (the third in four years, the fourth in seven) someone needs to say, echoing Kevin Rudd during the 2007 Federal […]
Tasmanian Government Privatisation Assessment – ‘Stage One’ Report
Economic Policies, Publications, Tasmania | 1st June 2025In March this year the Premier of Tasmania, the Hon. Jeremy Rockliff MP, asked Saul to give his Government “high level” advice on the possible privatization or divestment of 16 different government business enterprises (GBEs), state-owned companies (SOCs) and other entitites. The terms of reference called for the advice to be presented in two stages, […]