‘Sad day’ as state faces fourth election in seven years
Ben McKay, Jacob Shteyman and Ethan James |
Tasmanians are set to return to the polls with Premier Jeremy Rockliff confirming he will seek an election after losing a no-confidence motion.
The Liberal leader’s grip on power was lost after a marathon two-day debate in parliament finished on Thursday afternoon.
The motion brought by Opposition Leader Dean Winter passed by the barest margin, with Labor speaker Michelle O’Byrne casting a deciding vote.
With Governor Barbara Baker absent, Mr Rockliff spoke with her lieutenant, Christopher Shanahan, before announcing he would reconvene parliament on Tuesday to pass an emergency funding bill for public servants’ wages.
“It’s at that point, when the bills go through both houses of parliament, that I will seek an audience with Her Excellency, the Governor of Tasmania, to call an election,” he told reporters outside Government House.
“But my most highest priority right now is to ensure that we continue to fund our essential services that all Tasmanians need, deserve and care about.”
In a speech following the vote, an emotional Mr Rockliff said it was a “sad day”.
“What we have in this parliament, as I’ve said over the course of the last 14 months, is an eclectic mix of people from all backgrounds, which is how parliament should be, in actual fact,” he told the House of Assembly.
“And I wanted it to work. I believed in it and I actually still do.
“We’ve got most of our agenda through simply because of our negotiations between each other. And that’s why I’m so disappointed, if not broken-hearted, frankly.”
Mr Winter brought the no-confidence motion following the Liberal minority government’s budget, winning the support of the Greens and three crossbenchers for an 18-17 vote.
Liberal MPs yelled out “weak” as the house divided for the vote.
Mr Rockliff, premier since 2022, conceded the numbers were against him but vowed to “fight to his last breath” and not resign.
He said Tasmania did not want and could not afford its fourth state election in seven years.
“Be that on Mr Winter’s head. This has been a selfish grab for power. I have a lot more fight in me,” he said.
“The only job Mr Winter is interested in is mine. And I am not going anywhere.”
Mr Winter, opposition leader since Labor’s loss in 2024, said Tasmanians wanted to see the end of Mr Rockliff and the Liberals, who have governed under three different premiers since 2014.
The 40-year-old brought the no-confidence motion following last week’s budget, which forecasted deficits through the forward estimates and a debt blowout beyond $10 billion.
“We are ready for an election,” he said, flanked by his caucus outside a substation in Mt Wellington’s foothills, a site chosen to press home arguments against privatisation.
“We will not stand by and let this premier wreck our budget and sell the assets that Tasmanians have built.”
During the debate, Labor also lashed Mr Rockliff for delays and cost blowouts to the delivery of two new Bass Strait ferries.
Mr Rockliff called the motion “a selfish grab for power” but Mr Winter pushed back against claims of an opportunistic powerplay
“The premier did confidence and supply agreements with the crossbench when he became premier … and it was up to him to hold those agreements together,” he said.
“He couldn’t do it. Those agreements have fallen apart.”
Tasmania went to the polls just 15 months ago in an election which returned the Liberals to power in minority with just 14 of 35 seats in the lower house.
Some crossbenchers and the Greens have gripes with a new $945 million stadium in Hobart, a condition of the Tasmania Devils entering the AFL in 2028.
Labor supports the team and a stadium, a position it reiterated on Wednesday in writing to the AFL.
But the Devils fear an early election would delay the stadium project and put the club’s licence at risk.
AAP
