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The Forum > Article Comments > Labor flees to Opposition in Tasmania > Comments

Labor flees to Opposition in Tasmania : Comments

By Kate Crowley, published 6/4/2010

Tasmanians have entrusted the Greens with the balance of power. So what happens next and how will this work?

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It won't only be the Libs writhing in pain, it will be the state of Tasmania, as well.

I suppose it's what the people deserve, after all, they voted for it. How did they ever get that stupid system, anyway?

I wonder how long it will last? I suppose that depends on how much the leaders want to hang on to a bad situation.
Posted by Hasbeen, Tuesday, 6 April 2010 9:19:49 PM
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"Indeed, since the election, Get Up online has commissioned a poll that shows 72 per cent of Tasmanians preferring power sharing than one party trying to govern alone"

It would be very interesting to know more about this poll given that Get Up is an online activist organisation. If it was conducted on their website which is frequented by young idealists (and likely Green party supporters), it is hardly representative of the Tasmanian community.

"But the electorate has moved way past hydro-industrialisation and resource exploitation as economic panaceas and resonates far more clearly with the Greens message of clean, green, clever industry"

Yes, the electorate has moved on - that is why almost half of Tasmania's public lands and forests are already in national parks and conservation reserves.

Just what is the "clean, green, clever industry"? Tourism is often put forward to fit that bill. It is already substantial but it is a fairytale to expect it to expand and replace the resource use industries in terms of employment etc, particularly when efforts to increase visitor usage of park areas, such as the proposed Tarkine Road upgrade, are ironically opposed by those who comprise a substantial part of the Greens supporter base.

"The battle over the proposed billion-dollar pulp mill in the Tamar Valley wine district was the last resort"

It could be argued that a mill which is to value-add onto the state's eucalypt plantation estate is about as "green and clever" as industry could get. The expert advice suggests that the mill would have far less impact on the Tamar Valley's grapes than the sensibilities of their growers.
Posted by MWPOYNTER, Tuesday, 6 April 2010 9:48:04 PM
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Good try Cinders, this may surprise you but all twenty five seats were won due to the complex Hare Clark preferential voting system. On a first past the post basis the Greens would have still won five seats, they also topped the poll in two of the five electorates, you could also argue that the Hare Clark system actually cost the Greens a second seat in Denison (certainly more deserved on primary vote than the new member Archer!) If the Liberals are smart here (I doubt it though) and not haunted by previous minority governments in Tasmania and they work with the Greens, then as Kay said, Labor could be history...and history Labor deserves!
Posted by Scarneck, Tuesday, 6 April 2010 10:49:15 PM
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The current situation presents opportunities for positively changing the landscape of Tasmanian politics. No matter what, whichever Party takes the reins of Government they will have to negotiate with either the Opposition or the Greens, probably both.

In the interests of Tasmanians those involved need to consider the wider implications rather than hang on to the party political dogma of the past.

Minority government can certainly work if those involved are prepared to work together. Reversion to traditional adverserial politics will, however, deliver nothing other than the same as it has in the past.

Bottom line: it's time our politicians started thinking differently otherwise all they will be doing is consigning Tasmania and everyone who lives here to an extremely uncertain and inevitably financially damaging future.

The Hare Clarke system, like it or not, is supposed to be all about achieving representational outcomes - that's what we now have so now those elected bthrough this system must take the next step and introduce representational Government as intended by using this system.
Posted by balanced, Wednesday, 7 April 2010 10:17:04 AM
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In three of five Tasmanian electorates the Liberal party gained the most votes, with the ALP winning in the remaining two. Yet due to the number of strong candidates for each major party this vote was split between leading contenders, so it is hardly surprising that a green with 16% of the vote might top the poll, but its a long bow to conclude that such a vote would mean victory in a single member electorate.

Much more likely, as seen in South Australia and in other States and the Federal Parliament winning less than 20% of the vote means you do not get elected in a single member electorate regardless wether you are coloured green red or blue.

Clearly in Tasmania the Liberal Leader has claimed victory, and the ALP has conceded defeat, there is no need for any shady backroom deals to be done with the greens. Kate’s own work with the State Government in her role as the ALP appointed Chair of the Tasmanian Climate Action Council http://www.earnyourstars.tas.gov.au/action_council/council_members, shows just how irrelevant the greens political demands are to the State’s environment.

The latest figures show that since the Kyoto base year of 1990, thanks to the ALP and the Liberal governments have reduced emissions by a massive 24%. They have done so by not “negotiating” behind closed doors with the greens, since the disastrous Green ALP accord.

Let the support for the new Government be determined on the floor of the House of Assembly in the full glare of the media and the public. One task for the new government should be to hold an electoral commission to change the process of electing government to single member electorates, which according to Scarneck’s deductions; the greens would have nothing to fear.
Posted by cinders, Wednesday, 7 April 2010 12:41:58 PM
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Anything to keep the Greens out, eh cinders?

Across Tasmania, the Greens polled just over 21% of the vote and ended up with 20% of the seats. You'd rather that 21% of the electorate be unrepresented in government.

It's a bugger, that 'democracy' business, isn't it?
Posted by CJ Morgan, Wednesday, 7 April 2010 12:50:40 PM
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