Major industry is crucial for small business and the economy
While small and medium businesses are the engine room of the Tasmanian economy and provide employment opportunities for up to 90 percent of the States private sector workforce, this sector relies on major industry for its ongoing health and vitality. Tasmania’s major industries are crucial for small and medium business survival. The broad range of suppliers, retailers and service business that make up this sector would not exist if not for the major industries that they sell to and support. Tasmania’s transport infrastructure, our ports, roads and rail networks that serve all business and the community, would not exist without the production volume and scale of major industries. Similarly, our enviable electricity generation and associated infrastructure would be significantly more costly if it was not underpinned by the major industrial users. Indeed, our major industries help sustain local butchers, bakers, supermarkets and milk bars, hotels and restaurants and even doctors and dentists. As well, the economic activity the major industries generate and the taxes and royalties they pay fund many of the services provided by government. The reality is that the Tasmanian economy and community is best served by a strong major industrial sector supported by the myriad of small and medium businesses spread around the State.
