A plan for this state, not just this contest
Health, housing, timber, hydro, the river, the bush, waste, food and power. Written from what I have filmed, tabled and argued — for the Valley, for Lyons, for Tasmania.
Families
Fix the foundations first
Birth rates matter. Cash bonuses do not buy a house, a wage that keeps up, or a future worth raising children in. Make it possible to have kids. Do not bribe people into it.
Housing
Homes Tasmanians can actually afford
Cut out the middlemen. Directly employ tradies and apprentices, release land, buy materials in bulk, sell homes at cost plus a thin margin, and offer a 2% fixed loan for the full term.
Forestry
Saw it here. Build with it here.
I do not oppose logging or forestry when it is done right. I do not support logging old growth that is not regrowth. Sawlogs should go to Tasmanian mills, and that industry should grow so we can build cheaper houses.
Health
Train people here so they stay here
A dedicated teaching and general hospital, satellite hubs in the bush, paid clinical placements, and reopen basic care at Ouse. Stop pouring money into a city block that cannot grow.
Outdoors
Keep people on the country — and look after it
Hiking, fishing and hunting are jobs, health and how regional Tasmania lives. Manage the bush properly or we lose the regional economy, the country, and the reason people stay.
The Derwent
Do not wreck the river to save the paddock
I am not against irrigation. Farmers need water. Taking so much out of the Derwent that we wreck the river is not a win. Do the independent flow study before 2030 and publish it.
Waste
Waste to energy, not more landfill
The landfill levy is $70.56 a tonne and illegal dumping is still growing. Copenhagen showed leftover waste can become power and heat. Investigate a Tasmanian Amager Bakke.
Food
Protein on plates, not rotting in a paddock
Pass the game meat donation Bill. Put the backyard and food-swap exemption in the regulation, not a media release. You cannot talk food security and then regulate the hunter and the backyard out of it.
Energy
Power for homes, farms and industry — not data sheds
Firmus has asked Hydro for about 444 megawatts for AI factories. That is a claim on hydro Tasmanians built and paid for. Why sell cheap reliable power to data sheds that will not house a nurse?
Hydro
They are not renewables. Expand the hydro.
Wind turbines and solar farms are not renewables. I don't support them. A panel on your own roof is different. Put the money into the hydro. The firming is flogging machines we already own, and the power you get for the money does not add up.
Rights
Responsible firearms, hemp, and less red tape
Fix the antique firearms mess, stop treating licensed borrowers as traffickers, recognise international licences for tourism, and take the handbrake off a hemp industry that should already be working.