Rebecca White keeping lid on campaign as exit poll reveals monster Labor swing in Lyons

The race for a crucial Tasmanian seat heats up with frontrunner Rebecca White saying she’s taking nothing for granted after early exit polls gives her the edge over Liberal rival Susie Bower.

Rebecca White Labor candidate for Lyons. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Former Tasmanian Labor leader and federal candidate for Lyons, Rebecca White, said she was taking nothing for granted after a Mercury exit poll put her comfortably ahead of Liberal rival Susie Bower in the race for the crucial Tasmania seat.

In a survey of 200 Lyons voters casting ballots at multiple pre-poll stations across the state, Ms White secured 54 per cent of primary support, with Ms Bower picking up 29.3 per cent, and Greens candidate Alistair Allan attracting 7.3 per cent.

The exit poll – which gauged constituent sentiment at early-voting centres in Launceston, Sorell, Glenorchy, Brighton, and Hobart – represented a 25 per cent first-preference swing to Labor in Lyons compared to the 2022 election, when the party retained the seat by a mere 1300 votes.

On Thursday, Ms White said she would keep fighting hard over the next week and a half to keep the sprawling electorate in Labor hands.

“There is a lot of work to do between now and May 3 and I will be campaigning right up until 6pm on May 3,” Ms White said.

After achieving a 4.26 two-candidate preferred swing towards the Liberals at the last election against Labor MP Brian Mitchell, Ms Bower appears to have ground to make up in the last nine days of the 2025 campaign, with a 7.90 per cent primary swing against her in the exit poll.

Pictured in the suburb of Sorell in Hobart ,Tasmania is Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Liberal candidate for Lyons Susie Bower who stopped for fuel to talk about the Coalitions petrol price policy. Picture: Richard Dobson / Newswire

Ms Bower told the Mercury that Lyons voters faced a stark difference between candidates in the traditionally marginal electorate.

“This election is a choice between a common-sense Coalition government who will take immediate action on cost of living and has a real plan for Tasmania’s future, or a federal Labor-Green government controlled by the Greens who will sell out Tasmanian jobs and communities at every turn,” Ms Bower said.

Labor candidates push to guarantee Urgent Care Clinics

Meanwhile, Ms White has joined Labor Franklin candidate Julie Collins, and the party’s Clark hopeful Heidi Heck, to call on Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to guarantee the future of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics in Tasmania, which Ms Heck said had made a huge difference to the community.

Ms Collins said Mr Dutton needed to guarantee that Urgent Care Clinics GP visits would remain free under a Liberal-led government, and cast doubt over whether the Coalition would build a new clinic Labor has promised to open in Kingston next financial year.

“The Albanese government has got 87 clinics up and operating around Australia, and we want to do another three here in Tasmania, including at Kingston,” Ms Collins said.

“The Liberal Party has not committed to an urgent care clinic in Kingston. So I say to the voters of Franklin, if you want an urgent care clinic, and you want to have it bulk-billed under Medicare, you need to vote Labor.”

Minister Julie Collins. Minister Julie Collins with Labor candidates backing new urgent care clinics for Sorell and Kingston. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Coalition health spokesperson, Senator Anne Rushton, said under the Albanese Labor government it had never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor, claiming that a reduction in bulk-billing rates in Tasmania had put extra pressure on EDs, and the public hospital system generally.

Sen Rushton said the Coalition had made a clear commitment to continue existing Urgent Care Clinics, and described claims Mr Dutton would cut funding to Medicare as “more desperate and disgraceful scare tactics from Labor”.

“We recognise the urgent need for better access to bulk billed services, which is why we support Urgent Care Clinics and we will deliver these clinics as they were intended – focused on relieving pressure on local hospitals and providing real access to bulk billed urgent healthcare,” Sen Rushton said.

“Labor is lying to Australians about health to distract from their failures.

“The Coalition has committed $9.4 billion to address Labor’s primary care crisis and ensuring all Australians have timely and affordable access to essential healthcare.”

Originally published as Rebecca White keeping lid on campaign as exit poll reveals monster Labor swing in Lyons