‘Dump Jeremy Rockliff to stop election disaster’, senior Tasmanian Liberals, business leaders tell party

Can you be too loyal? Some Liberals and business leaders think so, urging Liberal MPs to dump the Tasmanian Premier to avoid a second election.

Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff is standing firm on his plan to call an early election.

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Tasmanian Liberal MPs are under mounting pressure – from senior party figures and business leaders – to dump Premier Jeremy Rockliff to prevent an early election, as MPs blamed the AFL for the state’s political crisis.

Federal Liberal frontbencher Jonathon Duniam on Friday described Mr Rockliff’s push to send Tasmanians back to the polls for a second time within 15 months as “nuts”.

The state parliamentary Liberal Party is so far standing by Mr Rockliff, who is planning to request a snap election rather than resign, after the House of Assembly passed a no-confidence motion in him on Thursday.

Senator Duniam, a leading party conservative, told The Australian the PLP needed to take “whatever steps necessary” to prevent the snap poll.

“Unless my colleagues are 100 per cent certain that the voters of Tasmania are not going to punish them for sending them to an early election, they should be taking whatever steps are necessary,” Senator Duniam said.

“Going to an election will be a bad outcome. The PLP needs to have a good, long think about this.”

Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam urges his state colleagues to rethink the leadership if necessary to stop a disastrous state election. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Liberal MPs have until Tuesday to do so, with all parties agreeing to pass an emergency supply bill – to keep public services going – before any election call.

Some MPs share Senator Duniam’s concerns, with Liberal Party strategists warning it will lose seats and potentially government at any poll. However, most are so far standing with Mr Rockliff, believing an election within 12 months is likely anyway, and preferring to go now with Mr Rockliff as leader than later with a less popular alternative.

The Tasmanian Minerals, Manufacturing and Energy Council told The Australian continuity of government was more important than continuity of leader, for investment and business confidence. “Government continuity is first and foremost, as opposed to who is the premier,” said council chief executive Ray Mostogl.

“Continuing on the term of the government is the best thing to do.

“(An election) just opens up a lot more variables in terms of what the business environment is going to look like.”

A second state election within 500 days would have a “big impact” on business, he said. “Expenditure on new infrastructure projects that the government had in the pipeline effectively all gets put on hold. And … it’s risky for any business to proceed with a growth plan that has any reliance on a state government decision.”

Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff says the Liberals could retain power by dumping Mr Rockliff – and the AFL stadium. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Political figures on Friday also turned on the AFL, blaming its demands for a $1bn stadium at Hobart’s Macquarie Point – at a time of ballooning state debt – for precipitating the crisis.

“I find it gobsmacking that anyone from any club or the AFL central organisation has the gall to tell Tasmania to get its house in order, when its demands on our state have in part brought the parliament to the brink of an election,” Senator Duniam said.

“If they’re genuine about wanting Tasmanians to have their own team, then meet us where we’re at: a small state, with limited revenue, a small population.”

Some of the AFL’s demands – which include a roofed stadium, precluding Test cricket, a contentious, problematic site, and tight timelines with financial penalties – were “unreasonable”, he said.

“I’d love to see a stadium built, but here we are with a (minority) government on its knees and the AFL pretending it’s business as usual,” Senator Duniam said.

“They should find the decency to help us find a pathway to a stadium that doesn’t burden us the way their current demands do.”

The no confidence motion did not mention the stadium, which the government is fast-tracking outside the normal planning process, but Greens and crossbenchers, who hold the balance of power, cited it as a major grievance.

Even MPs who did not support the no confidence motion backed Senator Duniam. “The AFL has failed to acknowledge the turmoil the stadium is causing,” said independent Rebekah Pentland.

Labor leader Dean Winter claims the Premier is to blame for an early election. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff said the Liberals could avoid an election by choosing a new leader and “by dropping their ­appalling stadium”.

Mr Rockliff declined to comment but was still vowing to ask the Governor for an election, once the special supply bill passed on Tuesday.

He and Labor leader Dean Winter, who moved the no-confidence motion, blamed each other for the likely election.

Mr Rockliff accused Mr Winter of a “power grab”, but Mr Winter said the Premier’s failures and budget mismanagement were behind the motion, backed by the Greens and three crossbenchers.

The AFL was contacted for comment.