Tasmanian Labor will ask to lose power
The Age
Friday April 2, 2010
TASMANIA'S battered Labor government is moving to be sent into opposition rather than test its strength in minority, setting up a constitutional showdown.The stand-off arose after David Bartlett's Labor government lost the majority vote in the March 20 election, which resulted in a tie between Labor and Liberal at 10 seats each, and gave the Greens a five-seat balance of power.Mr Bartlett said yesterday his caucus supported his long-standing commitment that if seat numbers were tied, government should go to the party with the biggest popular vote.The Liberals won 2 per cent more votes and their leader, Will Hodgman, pressed Mr Bartlett to make good the promise. Yesterday Mr Hodgman said: "I expect to be commissioned as premier of a new government in the latter part of next week."We have a strong policy agenda, a clear plan for the first 100 days of the Liberal government," he said."I'm committed to working positively and constructively with this parliament to ensure that it delivers the best services we can to Tasmanians."Yesterday the Labor leader said that next Wednesday, after the polls are declared, he would tell Governor Peter Underwood that he could not form a stable minority government, and ask that Labor's resignation be accepted.As part of his case for Labor to lose power, Mr Bartlett cited a no-confidence motion moved against him by Liberals and Greens on the second last sitting day of the last parliament. The motion, over the handling of charges against the state's police commissioner, failed.But Mr Bartlett said: "I cannot in any good conscience or honestly advise the Governor that I as premier enjoy the confidence of the House of Assembly."Greens leader Nick McKim said Mr Bartlett's revival of an old no-confidence motion was a bizarre attempt to palm off responsibility for a decision to abdicate power."What you'll see from Labor now is a relentless attempt to tear down a Liberal minority government [that] they will advise the governor to install."[But] if Mr Bartlett abdicates power he will be saying that he supports a Liberal government, which means that it will be his responsibility to prop up that government and deliver the stability that Tasmania deserves."A move into opposition after 12 years in office is considered Labor's best hope to regain power in an early return to the polls, as Tasmania does not have fixed four-year terms.Political analyst Richard Herr said a 1989 precedent showed a previous governor required that the issue be settled in Parliament. It was quite possible Mr Underwood would require Mr Bartlett to continue in his position until the issue was resolved in the House of Assembly.Dr Herr warned against making the Governor's job politically contentious. "It's difficult to see why the Governor should be taking all the risks," he said.The Rudd government has wasted little time in preparing for the likely Liberal-Greens minority government, with federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon yesterday contacting Mr Hodgman to discuss the national health and hospitals plan.
© 2010 The Age
