State political reporter Adam Langenberg says senior party sources have told the ABC the Tasmanian Labor Party will consider forming government if they win fewer seats than the Liberal Party in today’s state election, even if it means governing with the support of the Greens.
Labor currently has 10 seats, four behind the 14 held by the Liberals, with polls predicting another hung parliament as the most likely outcome.
Labor sources say the party will consider doing what it has twice refused to do in the last 16 months – governing with the support of the Greens – if they win fewer seats than the Liberals and Premier Jeremy Rockliff is unable to form government.
Then-Labor leader Rebecca White left open the possibility of Labor governing in minority after last year’s election, but that prospect was ended the next day when the party’s six-member state administrative committee declared the election lost.
Labor leader Dean Winter again ruled out governing in minority with the support of the Greens and three other crossbenchers in June, after his no-confidence motion in Mr Rockliff passed.
Labor sources say the party will be more inclined to seek to form a minority government this time around if the Liberals fall short of a majority and find it difficult to negotiate with a left-leaning crossbench.
But they say that will depend on the make-up of the crossbench and the number of seats won by both major parties, with the belief that the party will feel more comfortable governing in minority if they hold 12 seats, rather than 10.
Mr Winter has repeatedly refused to do formal deals with the Greens to form government, bemoaning the Labor-Green coalition between 2010 and 2014 as “disastrous”, but has not ruled out accepting confidence and supply from the Greens.
The Greens have indicated they’re willing to work with Labor, but do not have confidence in a Liberal Party led by Mr Rockliff.
“We’ve made it clear we have no confidence in Jeremy Rockliff as Premier. That’s because he has lied, broken promises, and shown contempt for Tasmanians,” Greens Leader Rosalie Woodruff said.
“After 11 years of the Liberals in government, Tasmania is in a mess.”
“People around the state are telling us they want a new government, but they also want to make sure the next government actually delivers the change Tasmania needs. For that to happen we need the Greens in the balance of power.”