Tasmania continues to operate under caretaker provisions 10 days after the 19 July election. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
The Tasmanian Electoral Commission (TEC) has begun the distribution of preferences under the complex Hare-Clark system as the impasse continues 10 days after the state election.
The counting of first preferences was completed late last week, while telephone, provisional, out-of-division and all postal votes received so far were also tallied.
Starting this week, the TEC conducted the preliminary distribution of preferences for leading candidates who have already exceeded the expected quota, but this was paused until all postal votes were required to have been returned, by 10 am Tuesday (29 July).
In the meantime, the State Government remains in the limbo of caretaker mode. Despite a slight increase in the Liberals’ primary vote and a reduction in Labor’s vote, both major parties remain unable to form government with support from minor parties and independents.
The latest count has the Liberals holding 14 seats, Labor 10, the Greens 5 and independents 4, with two seats remaining in doubt.
Last Thursday, Premier Jeremy Rockliff called on Labor leader Dean Winter to concede the election, but Mr Winter is holding fast to his belief that no single party yet has a mandate to govern. With 18 seats required to form government, no party has been able to garner support from the Greens or the independents to do so.
The 19 July election came barely 16 months after the last state election and was the fourth in six years. It followed a period of instability after the state budget, culminating in a no-confidence motion in the Premier, moved by Mr Winter on 5 June. This was supported by the Greens and the crossbenchers.
Mr Rockliff subsequently called a new election with the support of Governor Barbara Baker after no alternative Liberal leader could be found and Mr Winter couldn’t form a minority government.
Felix Ellis, the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management, Minister for Housing, Planning and Consumer Affairs, and Minister for Skills and Training, accused Labor of looking to do a deal with the Greens and for taking Tasmanians for fools.
“He keeps pretending he won’t do a deal with the Greens to stitch up a Labor-Green government, but that’s exactly what he is planning,” Mr Ellis, the Member for Braddon, said of Mr Winter.
“Make no mistake: accepting confidence and supply from the Greens is a deal. A very big deal. It would mean a Labor-Green government that most Tasmanians didn’t vote for.”
Despite saying several times before the election that Labor would not form a minority government with the Greens, Mr Winter has shied away from repeating that pledge since the vote.
“I’ve said I won’t do any deals with the Greens repeatedly during this and ultimately, it’ll be up to the Greens as to what decisions they make,” he told media on 24 July.
“The Greens will make their own decisions about what they do, and they’ll do that on the basis of who they think is best placed to form government.”
If Labor won’t work with the Greens, it won’t be able to form government, while the Liberals will need all four independents to come on board.
The independents are Kristie Johnston, who enjoyed a large swing towards her and has been a vocal critic against the controversial Macquarie Point Stadium; Peter George, who is an anti-salmon farming campaigner and is also against the stadium development; Craig Garland, who also enjoyed a big increase in his primary vote and is also against salmon farming; and former Labor leader David O’Byrne, who previously supported the Rockliff government and voted against the no-confidence motion.
Labor has also accused the government of breaching caretaker provisions in its decision to increase the borrowing limit for the troubled ferry operator TT-Line, and by continuing to work with the Federal and Victorian governments regarding the Marinus interconnector project.
The government has countered by saying it has briefed Labor on the TT-Line deal and will provide a briefing on the Marinus project in line with caretaker conventions.
