28 October 2026

The Public Trustee’s 2025–26 Annual Report, has been tabled in Parliament and shows a year in which the organisation completed its reform program and recorded its highest-ever client satisfaction.

“This has been a defining year for the Public Trustee,” said Public Trustee Chair Therese Taylor.

“Completing every recommendation of the Independent Review is a great milestone, but there is much more to do. Changing a culture is much harder than working through a list of recommendations, and it’s our staff who have done that work.

“Five years ago, our clients told us they didn’t feel heard. Today they tell us they feel respected, supported and safe, and that’s the best measure of how far we’ve come.

“I want to thank our staff, my fellow Board members, our Client and Stakeholder Reference Group and the Tasmanian Government for their support. We’re proud to continue as an independent, publicly owned organisation, focused on continuous improvement and on keeping our clients at the centre of everything we do.”

Public Trustee CEO, Todd Kennedy, said the results showed the reforms were now part of how the organisation works every day.

“Satisfaction with how we manage our clients’ financial affairs reached 88 per cent this year, the highest result we’ve ever recorded,” Mr Kennedy said.

“Ninety-one per cent of clients told us their client account manager treats them with respect, and 93 per cent said they feel their money is safe with us.

“From 1 January, we reduced some of our fees saving over 500 of our clients around $500 a year. For people on tight budgets, that makes a real difference.

“More Tasmanians are also coming to us to plan ahead. We prepared 738 wills, up 25 per cent on last year, with 99 per cent of our will clients satisfied with the service.  Overall, we manage $399 million in client assets.

“We’ve also delivered another solid financial result, with a net operating profit after tax of $371,000, up from $293,000 last year, and recommended a dividend of $333,994 payable to the Government.

“Our next big job is replacing our legacy trust and accounting systems, so we can keep improving the service Tasmanians receive.”