Clash of the Senate wildcards: wide field in Tasmania seeking to follow Harradine, Lambie into balance of power role
Tasmanians have always loved a Senate wildcard and this election will choose from an entire pack, with the victor set for a potential balance of power.
From Harradine to Lambie, Tasmanians have always loved a Senate wildcard – and this election they will choose from an entire pack, with the victor set for a potential balance-of-power role.
Labor and the Liberals should each easily snaffle two Senate seats in the state, and Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson is expected to be re-elected.
The battle for the sixth spot, however, involves a smorgasbord of minor party and independent mavericks, along with a jilted Liberal legend fighting for his political life.
Among the hopefuls are One Nation candidate Steve Mav, Jacqui Lambie’s office manager Tammy Tyrrell, and Howard-era veteran Eric Abetz, dumped down the Liberal ticket but courting below-the-line votes.
A new homegrown political party – the Local Party – is blooding its founder, former Greens adviser and policy think-tanker Leanne Minshull.
Labor hopes its third candidate, Kate Rainbird, might cash in on any uniform national swing, while Clive Palmer’s big advertising spending also puts United Australia Party candidate Diana Adams in the contest.
In 2019, with Senator Lambie heading the ticket, her Jacqui Lambie Network secured .62 of a quota. It remains to be seen how much of Senator Lambie’s strong personal vote Ms Tyrrell can capture, but the former employment services worker is happy to be seen as Jacqui II. “Jacqui and I are similar in a lot of ways – we’ve got the same values and we come at things from the same angle,” Ms Tyrrell said.
She vowed to use any balance of power to “put Tasmanians first”, nominating free, walk-in healthcare clinics as a key policy demand.
Mr Mav, a former local councillor and ex-Liberal whose past management of a West Australian Aboriginal corporation was subject to controversy, believes he will prevail. “I am confident that we are going to be the strongest minor conservative party in Tasmania,” he said, pointing to One Nation’s .24 of a quota in 2019, when as an independent he also secured 1 per cent of the vote.
Pauline Hanson is due to launch his campaign on Saturday and Mr Mav said she backed his policies to have Tasmania host national trials of 24/7 super health clinics and a more generous trainee wage subsidy.
He said he believed One Nation was ahead of the JLN.
Senator Abetz, his influence within the Liberals waning after decades as a conservative powerbroker, was dumped to No. 3 on the Liberal ticket.
In response, he is fighting a campaign of split personalities. The first is as a loyal Liberal stalwart, alongside his ticket colleagues; the second is harvesting below-the-line votes, assisted by material that omits mention of the party entirely.
Senator Abetz, 64, a bogeyman of the Left, would not say who was funding the below-the-line campaign, nor their level of involvement.
“There are some individuals who are supporting me, independently of the Liberal Party, and if that garners extra votes that is of course most welcome,” he said.
Ms Minshull said her Local Party – which is also running two lower house candidates at the election – was a “vehicle” for the election of independents.
A publican and previous Australia Institute state chief executive, Ms Minshull said the only non-negotiables for Local Party candidates were they had to commit to climate action, the Uluru Statement From the Heart, and citizen juries.
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