A few short months ago, Peter Gutwein was an untested and, for many, an unknown Premier, thrust into the top job unexpectedly, with no transition to soften up a rather dour image.
Today, Newspoll reveals him to be the country’s second most popular premier, with satisfaction ratings not even the most loved leaders can hope to achieve after years of office in the best of times.
Gutwein landed the premiership only in January, after his popular predecessor Will Hodgman decided not to hang around to fight for an unprecedented third term amid a declining budget position.
He had little personal profile outside northern Tasmania, apart from being loathed by some, especially in the south, for his budget cuts and tough pay stance with public sector unions.
Today he is Mr 84 per cent; this satisfaction rating the highest of all premiers, other than the West’s Mark McGowan. A stunning 89 per cent of voters believe he has performed either fairly well (31 per cent) or very well (58 per cent); once again second only to McGowan.
A no-nonsense former publican, Gutwein still struggles to find the right words at press conferences, much less to exude the charisma of a Hodgman or Jim Bacon.
However, voters have appreciated his straight talk and willingness to take tough, nation-leading decisions early, such as his calls to ban cruise ships and effectively shut the state’s borders.
Even when it didn’t work and a shocking outbreak struck the state’s northwest, Gutwein won kudos for not sugar-coating the situation, imposing a harsher lockdown on the region, and refusing to relent even when small business groups pleaded for a relaxation.
Newspoll is a strong vindication of leadership skills no one knew Gutwein had. Tasmanians clearly believe he is the man for a crisis. Whether this strangest of political honeymoons continues when the worst is past, and the bill comes in, is another matter.
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