Premier Jeremy Rockliff dismisses Labor’s claims the upcoming Pembroke election will be a referendum on privatisation

Premier Jeremy Rockliff has revealed his party will not run a candidate in the upcoming Pembroke Legislative Council election. Why he described Labor’s comments on the election as ‘completely ridiculous’.

Labor Member for Pembroke Luke Edmunds with his election sign. Picture: Simon McGuire.

A referendum on privatisation is how Labor has described the upcoming Tasmanian Legislative Council election for the Hobart Eastern Shore electorate of Pembroke.

Labor’s Luke Edmunds has held the seat since 2022.

The Liberals have indicated they will not put forward a candidate for the upcoming Pembroke election – which is likely to take place in May – but Clarence Deputy Mayor Allison Ritchie has put her hand up to contest Mr Edmunds as an independent.

Labor's Luke Edmunds speaks to the media on Hobart's eastern shore on Friday, March 7, 2025.

The Labor incumbent said he was passionate about his community.

“There is a clear choice that people have to make,” Mr Edmunds said.

“Labor stands for not privatising Tasmania’s public assets, as has been thrown on the table by (Premier) Jeremy Rockliff this week.

“We know that Tasmanians rely on public services such as Metro to get to work.

“If they drive a car, they don’t want to be paying double their premiums because MAIB has been privatised.”

Mr Edmunds said the issue of privatisation was important to the people of his electorate.

“In the engagement that I’ve had in only the past four or five days since the policy’s been announced, people really can’t believe they’ve got a government that is going to try and privatise assets that are household names in Tasmania and people rely on them.

“One thing we know is if you privatise services, they become more expensive and less reliable, so certainly Labor will be fighting that all the way.”

Premier Jeremy Rockliff. First sitting day for the House of Assembly in the Tasmanian parliament for 2025. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

On Sunday, Mr Rockliff said the privatisation plans were all about service delivery.

“This is about providing better services for Tasmanians and ensuring that the businesses that we do need to own as a government remain in government hands, and the businesses that do not need to be in government hands – and therefore delivering better services for the Tasmanian community – they’re offloaded and the proceeds form those sales go into a future fund.”

He dismissed Labor’s assessment that the Pembroke election would be a referendum on privatisation.

“What a load of rubbish,” Mr Rockliff said.

“We’re not running a candidate in the Pembroke election; we’re concentrating on Nelson and Montgomery, so any talk of a referendum is completely ridiculous.

“All I ask of the Labor opposition is to be sensible and measured, and deal with and bring forward ideas to address the challenges that we have in our state.”

Originally published as Premier Jeremy Rockliff dismisses Labor’s claims the upcoming Pembroke election will be a referendum on privatisation