Leadership spill comes day after Dean Winter bid to form government via no-confidence motion in parliament fell flat
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Tasmanian Labor has replaced Dean Winter as parliamentary leader, with Josh Willie elected unopposed to serve as the state’s new opposition leader.
The party, which has been in opposition for 11 years, met for more than seven hours on Wednesday before announcing Willie’s appointment.
Continue reading...Premier Jeremy Rockliff attempts to win support from crossbench MPs and survive no-confidence motion when state parliament returns this week
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The Tasmanian Liberal party has promised a pause on salmon farm expansion and an independent review of the industry as it attempts to win support from crossbench MPs and survive a no-confidence motion in the state parliament this week.
In a concession to independent MPs critical of the operation of salmon farms in public waterways, the premier, Jeremy Rockliff, on Sunday said he supported the industry but that it was “on notice” after a mass mortality event last summer, and it must “operate transparently and responsibly and meet its obligations to the community”.
Continue reading...Jeremy Rockliff says ‘it’s time to draw a line in the sand and ensure an orderly exit from greyhound racing in Tasmania’
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The Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, has vowed to end greyhound racing in the state by mid-2029 as he works to shore up support from independents.
The decision comes after a “great” of Tasmanian greyhound racing, Raider’s Guide, was euthanised in late July after falling and breaking its neck at a Launceston track.
Continue reading...Jeremy Rockliff has begun courting crossbench support, while Dean Winter is open to governing with five-seat Greens plus independents
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The independents who hold Tasmania’s political future in their hands have indicated they could support a premier from either major party.
The incumbent Liberals claimed 14 seats at Saturday’s snap election, ahead of Labor on nine.
Continue reading...State’s unusual electoral system makes winning a majority difficult at the best of times. Now, facing another hung parliament, Labor is in a sticky situation
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Tasmania has just had its second state election in 16 months, the shortest gap between state polls in Australia since Queensland in 1957.
For some voters it was their fifth trip to the ballot box in less than two years.
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Controversial MP Mark Latham says he has “broken no law” as he publicly responds to a former partner’s allegations of domestic violence.
The former federal Labor leader and NSW One Nation leader has described recent reports involving former partner Nathalie Matthews as “false, reckless and irresponsible”.
I have broken no law. The police did not involve themselves in the AVO matter.
I have breached no standing orders of the Legislative Council. The NSW parliament has stringent processes about inappropriate behaviour, and in my six years there, I’ve never been notified of a complaint against me.
The Marine Rescue Batemans Bay and Bermagui crews said sea conditions were favourable last night, but it was quite dark with little assistance from the moon, and they had to navigate around numerous whales.
They are searching an area offshore from just north of Narooma to south of Bermagui under the direction of Marine Area Command and will continue to do so until otherwise instructed.
Continue reading...Support appears to grow for incumbent government in election triggered by no-confidence vote
Early voting counts in Tasmania’s election points to the Liberals being in the box seat to rule, with the incumbent government’s vote rising and Labor’s collapsing.
Saturday’s vote, triggered when the minority Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, lost a no-confidence motion in early June, is the island’s second in 16 months.
Continue reading...Bridget Archer lost Bass to Labor at the federal election and is a moderate ally of the premier who suffered a no confidence vote last week
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Prominent former federal Liberal MP, Bridget Archer, has announced she will contest a snap Tasmanian election for the embattled state government, amid ongoing political upheaval.
The Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, is expected to call an election on Tuesday – only 15 months after Tasmanians last went to the polls – after the state parliament passed a motion of no confidence in him.
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Continue reading...A vote of no-confidence in Jeremy Rockliff’s government has pushed the state to the brink of an election that all the major players agree is a bad idea
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Craig Garland, the fisherman turned maverick independent MP from Tasmania’s north-western corner, summed it up best when he told state parliament on Thursday morning he was “a bit confused”.
Garland wasn’t confused about what he was doing – he calmly backed a no-confidence motion in the Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff. But he expressed doubts about how the Tasmanian parliament got here, and what lay ahead.
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Continue reading...Premier Jeremy Rockliff says he will advise governor Barbara Baker that he be recommissioned to form a new government
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.
Continue reading...The party whip says she plans to stay in the Senate as an independent after Lambie suggested she should ‘go it alone’
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.
Continue reading...As the dust settles from an unnecessary election, premier Jeremy Rockliff has some serious work to do to form a stable government
Jeremy Rockliff brought this on himself.
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.
Continue reading...Labor’s Rebecca White is hoping to unseat Australia’s only remaining Liberal government and return her party to power after 10 years in opposition
Australia’s last Liberal government is hoping they can defy opinion polls and be returned in majority, as polls close in Tasmania.
The state Liberals are chasing a record fourth successive term, while Labor is aiming to end a decade in opposition.
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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.
Continue reading...Maker of ‘honest government’ ad parodies says state’s antiquated electoral laws could be ‘weaponised to silence critics’
“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.
Continue reading...Though the state’s ruling party has been marked by defections and dissent, the opposition has struggled to make its mark
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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Two Liberal MPs have resigned from the party after flagging concerns about the planned $715m Macquarie Point Stadium
The last Liberal state in Australia is set for minority government as two MPs quit amid concerns over building an AFL stadium in Hobart.
Bass MP, Lara Alexander, and Lyons MP, John Tucker, resigned from the Liberal party to sit as independents on Friday.
Continue reading...Citing huge workloads for MPs, premier will introduce bill to increase House of Assembly, reversing 1998 reduction
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.
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Continue reading...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.
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