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Independent candidate and salmon farming opponent Craig Garland has secured the final spot in Tasmania’s parliament, leaving the Liberals with 14 seats, Labor 10, the Greens five, Jacqui Lambie Network three and three independents.
Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, said with the 35 members of the state’s assembly elected, 13 of them new faces, he would advise governor Barbara Baker that he be recommissioned to form a new government.
The Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell says she is quitting the Jacqui Lambie Network, but plans to stay in the Senate as an independent, saying the party leader had suggested her former party mate “go it alone”.
“Today I have advised the Jacqui Lambie Network that I am resigning from the party. I’ll remain in the Senate as an independent Senator for Tasmania,” the 53-year-old said in a statement on Thursday evening.
The Tasmanian premier – the leader of Australia’s sole Liberal government – called an election a year earlier than required, believing he could persuade voters to reject the “chaos” of minority government and reward his party with a fourth straight majority victory. Tasmanians didn’t buy it.
The Republican candidate for the US presidency, former president Donald Trump, has had a few things to say about former Australian prime minister and current US ambassador Kevin Rudd.
Trump spoke to UK conservative Nigel Farage on GB News, saying if Rudd is hostile “he will not be there long”:
The Aukus deal that is in place, America, you know, the UK, Australia, very, very important deal, it is there to try and combat that huge growth in China. But now of course things have changed in Australia, we have a Labor government in Australia. The previous ambassador, Joe Hockey, I think was quite a good friend of yours, you got on pretty well with him. Now they have appointed Kevin Rudd. Former Labor MP, an he has said the most horrible things, you were a destructive president, a traitor to the west, and he is now Australia’s ambassador in Washington. Would you [take a phone call from him?]”
Yeah, well don’t know. He won’t there be long if that is the case. I don’t know much about him. I heard he was a little nasty. I heard he’s not the brightest bulb. I don’t know much about him, but he won’t be there long if he is at all hostile.
“It was a real ‘what the fuck’ moment,” Giordano Nanni says about his company, The Juice Media, being told to censor an image of Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff or face heavy penalties.
The Juice Media is well known for its satirical “honest government” series, which takes potshots at all sides of politics in videos that resemble government-funded propaganda.
For the second term in a row, Tasmania will head to the polls about a year before an election is due after Australia’s last remaining Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, called an early election for 23 March.
But memories of colonial project to wipe out Tasmania’s natives boost yes campaign on island
Patsy Cameron stands in her dining room in Tomahawk – a small fishing village on the north-east coast of Tasmania, Australia. She tells a story – a few decades old – of how she boarded a plane back from Darwin, her hands full of cultural objects she had bought. The man next to her turned and said: “They should have shot them all like they did to the Tasmanians.” She started crying. He responded by offering her a piece of cake, and an apology.
Behind her is a cabinet full of shell necklaces and drawings of her ancestors. The home she shares with her husband, Graham, is filled with cultural artefacts that the historian learned to make by reading diaries and anthologies of colonisers. Piece by piece she has put history back together. Piece by piece she is reviving her culture.
The number of MPs in Tasmania’s lower house of parliament is set to increase by 40% after the new Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, responded to concerns about politician burnout and a shallow ministerial talent pool.
Rockliff made a surprise announcement on Wednesday that he would table legislation this year to increase the size of the House of Assembly from 25 to 35 members at the next state election, due in 2025.
Peter Gutwein shares experience after his Liberal colleagues criticised for groaning when the opposition quoted a survivor of child sex abuse
The Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein has revealed he was the victim of sexual assault as a teenager.
Gutwein last year set up the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings after abuse allegations were levelled at state public servants.
The premier says it is ‘increasingly likely’ his party will win 13 out of 25 seats, as Labor concedes defeat
The Liberal party is on the brink of an unprecedented third straight election win in Tasmania, with the premier, Peter Gutwein, declaring he expected to command a majority in the state’s parliament.
By late Saturday night, the Liberals had won at least 12 seats in the state’s 25-seat parliament. Labor had at least eight seats and the Greens two. Three seats were undecided, but the government was favoured to claim an additional MP in the Hobart-based electorate of Clark.
Victoria says 500-bed $15m facility to be built in Mickleham; Australia’s medicine regulator expected to determine whether death of two men in NSW linked to coronavirus jab. Follow the day’s news live
Thousands of corellas have been filmed flocking to the suburban streets of Nowra on the NSW south coast and it is terrifying.
China’s top envoy to Australia has blasted as “ridiculous” the claim that Beijing’s economic coercion has been the cause of tensions between the two countries.
China’s ambassador, Cheng Jingye, has also cautioned Australia against “teaming up in [a] small group against China” - in apparent reference to initiatives like the Quad with the US, Japan and India. Cheng said Australia should not play the “victim game”.
Gladys Berejiklian says a NSW Covid immunisation centre will be capable of administering 30,000 doses a week; EU denies blocking further shipments of AstraZeneca earmarked for Australia. Follow the latest updates, live
Australia needs to manage the increasingly complex relationship with China, even as the government seeks areas to diversify its export markets, according to a new report out this afternoon.
The Asia Taskforce – which includes the Business Council of Australia and Asia Society Australia – calls for a target of boosting Australia’s exports to 35% of GDP by 2030 (up from 29% in 2019).
Popular support for the open economy cannot be taken for granted. Retreating to old familiar relationships in western markets, falling behind in Asia literacy and failing to build connections with new Asian business partners should not be seen as a serious default choice when consumption in Asia will likely fuel future global growth.
The Greens are once again calling for an independent rapid review into the vaccine rollout to identify any issues and restore public confidence.
Senator Rachel Siewert, Greens spokesperson for health, said in a statement:
With targets missed, persistent problems with vaccine supply, and troubles getting the available vaccines to where they’re needed, the rollout of these vital jabs hardly inspires confidence...
We shouldn’t let this devolve into a game of finger pointing and blaming shifting between the federal and state governments. This pointless squabble doesn’t inspire confidence in the rollout, and can only serve to add further delays to the process.