Bob Brown slams Tasmanian ALP's 'death wish'

BOB Brown says the ALP's refusal to strike any more power-sharing deals with the Greens is "a death wish".

BOB Brown says the ALP's refusal to strike any more power-sharing deals with the Greens is "a death wish" that will keep it from office indefinitely.

The former Greens leader said yesterday he believed state and federal Labor figures when they said there would be no more power-sharing deals.

"It's a death wish - they simply don't get the public mood in Tasmania and increasingly the public mood across Australia," he said.

"It is simply going to help the Liberals win government and, curiously enough, it's going to boost the Greens."

In the Tasmanian context, it meant Premier Lara Giddings would never return to the job after the March 15 state election.

"Lara will never be premier again," Dr Brown said.

Dumping the four-year Tasmanian Labor-Greens alliance and legal-proofing the Tamar Valley pulp mill would fail to achieve the ALP's stated aim of winning back disaffected voters," he said.

Tasmanians who were set against the Greens and in favour of the stalled mill had locked in as Liberal voters. At the same time, sacking well-performing Greens ministers and recalling parliament to pass pulp mill "doubt removal" legislation would "only solidify the already significant state Greens vote", Dr Brown said.

"Suddenly people in all electorates are going to be affronted by having Lara evict the Greens and go for the pulp mill.

"It comes down to this: the Liberals are better at pulp mills than Labor and the Greens are better at clean, green economy than Labor.

"Labor has brought on an issue which is going to highlight the choice being one between the Greens and the Liberals. Labor has opened up a hole in the ground and is falling into it."

Dr Brown's comments - the strongest yet by the Greens in response to this week's developments - highlight the gamble state Labor has taken with its strategy of dumping the Greens and promising pulp mill legal protection.

Labor strategists are confident this will restore support among many disaffected traditional ALP voters, averting an electoral wipeout that could have seen it reduced from 10 to only five or six seats in the 25-seat state assembly.

The state Greens were late yesterday still to decide whether to move a no-confidence motion against the minority Labor government when parliament is recalled on January 28 to debate the pulp mill legislation.

Greens MP Kim Booth has vowed to move no-confidence in his own right, arguing the legislation is tantamount to "corruption and malfeasance". His four fellow Greens are yet to flag their intentions.

The Liberals have decided not to support the motion, meaning it will not pass, but it remains a dilemma for the Greens, who want to stop the pulp mill but do not want to be seen as destabilisers.

Labor MPs Craig Farrell and Rebecca White were yesterday sworn in as ministers to replace the two dumped Greens, Nick McKim and Cassy O'Connor.