Tasmanians to head to the polls for election on Saturday July 19

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Tasmanian voters will be treated to five weeks of political campaigning.

Transcript

00:00There's certainly been a lot of back and forth already

00:04before the election was even officially called.

00:07So Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliffe was saying this election,

00:11if it was granted before Barbara Baker made her decision,

00:15that it was all on Dean Winter's head,

00:17who is the Labor leader in Tasmania.

00:18Now, Mr Winter is the one who moved the no-confidence motion

00:21in the Premier in Parliament last week.

00:24That got up 18 votes to 17 after a marathon two days of debate,

00:29and it was over things including growing state debt,

00:33the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry's project plans from the Liberal government

00:36to potentially sell off public assets, which they've since ruled out doing.

00:40But so Mr Rockliffe was saying the whole way through,

00:44I will go and request an early election if this gets up,

00:47which is exactly what he did.

00:48That was obviously granted last night.

00:50On the other side, Labor is saying Mr Rockliffe could resign

00:54if he stepped down as Premier, if he made that decision.

00:58There was another Liberal MP.

00:59Potentially an election could have been avoided that way.

01:02The Greens are saying both of you have options.

01:04Why aren't you taking them?

01:05We don't need to go to an election.

01:07But ultimately the Governor has decided that there weren't alternatives here

01:12and that despite going to an election in 2024,

01:15the cost of going to an election and the prevailing sense from the community

01:18that people don't want to return to the polls,

01:20that she was satisfied there was no alternative government

01:23that could be formed and so July 19th we're voting once again.

01:28Do we have any read on how Tasmanians are taking this?

01:31Could there be a backlash to one side or the other?

01:35Potentially.

01:36It'll be really interesting to see how that does play out.

01:38There is a fair bit of voter fatigue.

01:40I think in the community we've been to the polls a number of times,

01:43not just for state elections.

01:45We've had upper house parliamentary elections in various parts of Tasmania.

01:49We've had the federal election.

01:51This will be our fourth election for a state election in seven years.

01:55A few of those have been early.

01:56So there is a bit of a sense of people feeling like they've cast their vote already

02:01and they just want the parliament to get on with things.

02:04So it will be interesting to see if that translates into maybe a bigger crossbench

02:08or if we see the Greens gaining more support or if there is a move away from Labor

02:14and the Liberals, both of them will of course be trying to secure more seats

02:19in a 35-seat house.

02:21We've also, it'll be interesting because we have seen some candidates already

02:24popping out of the woodwork to put their hand up.

02:27We've had former federal Liberal MP Bridget Archer.

02:29She was out on the weekend saying she would be seeking pre-selection

02:34for the Liberal Party.

02:35So she's hoping to run in the seat of Bass for the Liberals.

02:39Alternatively, in Labor, the Speaker of the House, Michelle O'Byrne,

02:42the Speaker of the House of Assembly, she is announced she won't be seeking

02:45pre-selection.

02:46So that will be a loss for Labor in Bass.

02:48Same as Rebecca White, who's now a federal Labor MP,

02:52she obviously won't be there in Lyons and she was a big vote getter

02:55for the Labor Party, typically at state elections.

02:58So it'll be certainly interesting to see what the final makeup of that parliament

03:02actually is and how collaborative it may have to be, ultimately.

03:07And what does this mean for the government's controversial AFL stadium plans?

03:12Well, it's certainly lots of questions being asked about that in recent weeks.

03:16So the stadium in itself was not a part of the motion of no confidence vote.

03:20It wasn't one of the reasons listed.

03:21And both the Liberals and Labor are big backers of the stadium.

03:25They support Tasmania getting its own AFL team.

03:28Stadium is part and parcel of that, according to the AFL.

03:31So inevitably, this will come up as a topic in the election campaign.

03:36But both major parties do support it.

03:38Of course, there are very tight deadlines around that project that need to be met.

03:42So how an election campaign will throw those out is really interesting and one that a lot

03:46of people are going to be watching closely.

03:48The Greens have already come out pretty strongly and said they don't want the stadium.

03:52They support a team.

03:53They don't want a stadium.

03:54And that will be a big part of their campaign.

03:55So it'll be interesting to see if voters align more with that, if the Macquarie Point Stadium

04:01is going to be a make or break for people casting their votes.

04:04But there are certainly questions about how those deadlines are going to be met.

04:07And if there is a bigger crossbench, what that could mean for votes getting through Parliament.

04:12There was meant to be legislation going through in a matter of weeks about enabling the stadium

04:16to be built.

04:17So who knows with a different makeup, what kind of discussions are going to be had around that.

Category

Transcript

Recommended