Welcome to the latest edition of Clark Matters, Andrew’s monthly email newsletter to help keep you abreast of federal politics and what he’s been up to.
The Hobart Clinic
Andrew has been outspoken in the media about the imminent closure of The Hobart Clinic. For 40 years the Clinic has been providing first-rate private mental health services to Tasmanians, and its closure next month will see the State lose 27 in-patient beds. It’s simply not good enough for the Tasmanian Government to claim the Clinic’s caseload can be absorbed by the public health system. That’s patently unbelievable.
Patients fortunate enough to have private health insurance, and the money to travel, will face the disruption of now going to the mainland for treatment. While those now relying on the public health system will have to join the swelling queue somewhere or simply go without critical treatment.
The closure of The Hobart Clinic reflects the parlous state of mental health care in Australia. It’s chronically under-funded and specialist staff shortages are commonplace, first and foremost because of decades of policy failure by governments at both national and state level. Clearly the funding model for hospitals in Australia, public and private, needs to be redesigned. And the health insurers, especially the for-profit companies, need to pay the hospitals more for procedures and patient care.
National Climate Risk Assessment
The recently released National Climate Risk Assessment makes for a sobering read. It’s a comprehensive piece of work, and the climate impact scenarios at 1.5C, 2C and 3C degrees global warming show we must do everything we can to comply with the Paris Agreement of keeping warming to no more than 1.5C. The impacts of that temperature is bad enough, while the outcome for the climate, society and economy of anything warmer is truly alarming. Without more ambition the world is currently on track for 2.7C.
No wonder many people, including Andrew, say the Federal Government’s 2035 target of reducing emissions by 62-70 per cent is entirely inadequate. Indeed it’s just further evidence that the Government is wanting to have it both ways; to look serious about climate change on the one hand, while it ignores the climate evidence and approves new or extended gas projects and coal mines on the other.
Modelling by Climate Analytics reveals we must reduce carbon reduction by 76-89 per cent by 2035 to hold warming to 1.5C. This is the very least we should aim for in Andrew’s view. But this will take an ambitious whole-of-nation effort, and the fact that many in the alternative federal government still don’t even believe in climate change makes this sort of ambition a tough ask.
Macquarie Point AFL Stadium
The Macquarie Point AFL stadium fiasco just went from bad to worse, with both the Tasmanian Government, and the Labor opposition, dismissing the damning report into the proposed facility by the Tasmanian Planning Commission (TPC).
Frankly the TPC hardly had a kind word to say about the proposal and found the cost to taxpayers of construction and debt over the first ten years will be $1.8 billion. And that’s based on an unrealistic construction cost of $1.13 billion, well short of the $2 billion cost expected by architects, engineers and other experts.
Andrew has been outspoken about how the Tasmanian Government’s plan puts at risk the Federal Government’s $240 million grant for urban redevelopment at Macquarie Point. The TPC found that the proposed stadium makes impossible the urban redevelopment envisaged in the Precinct Plan, which means the Tasmanian Government will be non-compliant with the Deed of Agreement between the governments for the funding. A copy of Andrew’s relevant letter to the Prime Minister can be found at https://andrewwilkie.org/2025/09/tassie-government-puts-mac-point-federal-funding-at-risk/
Yours sincerely
