Latest Updates from Ruth
Ruth Forrest was born in Burnie and raised in Riana. A lifelong North West Coaster, she worked as a nurse and midwife before entering the Tasmanian Legislative Council in 2005. She lives in Wynyard and represents the electorate of Murchison, which includes the communities of Circular Head, Waratah-Wynyard, the West Coast, King Island and much of Burnie.
Election Update No 16: Marinus Decision Time: Tasmania Can’t Afford to Get It Wrong
As Tasmanians head to the polls and many voting early, we do so with strikingly little clarity about the future of our energy system. And nowhere is that more alarming…
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If you want to get to SurplusTown, would you start from here?
There’s a sliver of hope—just a glimmer—that when the dust settles on this election, the battered survivors might finally face up to the fiscal mess Tasmania is in. But it’s…
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Election Update No 15: The pathway to surplus
There’s a slither of hope, a small shaft on sunlight trying to shine on an otherwise bleak election battleground, that when the dusts settles, the survivors – I won’t call…
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Election Update number 14: The Liberal Fiscal Strategy
The Premier released his long awaited Fiscal Strategy yesterday. If credit ratings agencies stumble on a copy we’re bound to be downgraded. It doesn’t comply with the Act. There are…
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Election Update number 13: Revenue: the taboo topic
When Kerry Packer told a Parliamentary Committee back in 1991 that he did everything possible to ensure he paid a little tax as possible “….because as a government, I can…
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Election Update number 12: Labor’s fiscal strategy and beyond
If I’d known where the election campaign was to lead I would have titled these posts: Dispatches from the War Zone. For that’s what it has become. If one thing…
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Election update number 11: PEFO what it means for the election campaign
It’s official. The government will have to cobble together a new fiscal strategy by Thursday 3rd July. There was a fiscal strategy included in the proposed 25/26 Budget but those…
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Election update number 10: Pre-Election Budget Warning
The purpose of this update is to put the recently released Pre-Election Outlook (PEFO) report into context. What is the purpose of PEFO and why did Treasury issue it in…
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Tasmania’s Pre-Election Budget Warning
Tasmania’s Treasury has just delivered what might be the most passive-aggressive pre-election financial report in State history. The Pre-Election Financial Outlook (PEFO) released in June 2025 is not only a…
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