A sustainable Tasmania for the generations after us

Tasmania is standing on the edge of a slow collapse. We cannot continue to rely on short-term fixes and immigration-led growth while our healthcare crumbles, housing becomes increasingly unaffordable, and waste keeps piling up.

According to 2023 ABS data, Tasmania’s birth rate is just 1.51, well below the 2.1 replacement level needed for sustainable population growth. Without strong investment in health, housing and economic opportunity, Tasmanians will continue delaying or forgoing family life altogether.

I propose a state-of-the-art teaching and general hospital, inspired by the Gold Coast University Hospital model, to address Tasmania’s acute health workforce shortages and poor regional health outcomes. Too many Tasmanians leave the state to train as health professionals and many never return.

On housing: direct government employment of skilled workers and apprentices; government land releases and mass material purchasing; fixed-rate home loans at 2% over the full term; built home sales at cost plus 5%. Let’s cut out the middlemen and build homes people can actually afford.

On waste: a modern waste-to-energy plant, citing Copenhagen’s Amager Bakke, to reduce illegal dumping, recover metals, reuse ash, and complement hydro.

If we want a thriving Tasmania in 2050, the time to act is now. We need bold ideas, not recycled promises. That piece was written for a Lyons ballot. The argument does not expire with the writs.