Price of power: would-be kingmakers demand next Tasmanian premier dumps stadium and cuts debt

With polls and pundits pointing to another hung parliament in Tasmania, likely kingmakers will demand the next premier dumps the AFL stadium, taxes salmon farms and cuts debt.

Peter George, who stood in the federal election unsuccessfully, is an independent candidate for Franklin in the Tasmanian election and is regarded as the most likely of any new independents in the parliament. Picture: Lara van Raay

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The next Tasmanian government will have to dump the AFL stadium, tax salmon farms and produce a budget repair plan to win over key likely balance-of-power independents.

Polls and pundits point to another minority government after the July 19 snap state election, meaning the next premier would need the support of crossbenchers to govern.

Based on past elections, those most likely to hold a balance-of-power position include the Greens, existing independent MPs Kristie Johnston and Craig Garland, and newcomer Peter George.

All told The Australian they wanted the government to scrap plans for a $1bn AFL stadium at Macquarie Point, a condition on the state being granted the competition’s 19th team.

And all three independents flagged demands for a budget repair strategy, amid mounting concern at the Liberal government’s plans to double net debt to almost $11bn by 2028-29.

Independent state member for Clark Kristie Johnston. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Mr George, standing in Franklin, the mirror state seat of the federal electorate where he finished second at the May federal election, is the most likely of a string of new independents vying at this poll.

“I’ll take it on a case-by-case basis, but they’re going to have to make some really difficult decisions – for them – like on the stadium,” he told The Australian.

“It should be possible to get a football team without the AFL blackmailing us into spending money that we don’t have.”

Like the other independents who spoke to The Australian, Mr George said he would be seeking urgent budget repair.

“We’re going to have to strip things back to the essentials – education, health and housing,” he said.

“They’re going to have to come up with new ways of raising revenue, which means increased taxes on exploitive and extractive industries, like the salmon industry and mining, and looking at the subsidies paid to the forestry industry.”

Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff, who suffered a no-confidence motion last week partly over alleged budget mismanagement, on Friday insisted no election promise would add to state debt.

“Any announcement made during the election will be funded through the budget – it will not increase debt,” his spokeswoman said.

However, independents remain concerned the yet-to-pass budget, which contains four years of deficits, is already unsustainable.

Ms Johnston, in Clark, said she would be looking to see which party “is providing a pathway to improving the situation and being more transparent and accountable”.

“We don’t need a new stadium,” she said.

Ms Johnston said she wanted a focus on preventative health, more housing, school resourcing and supporting renters.

While ruling out a written support deal, she would favour a party willing to renegotiate the AFL deal and base the new team at Launceston’s existing York Park AFL stadium.

Independent candidate for Braddon Craig Garland. Picture: Chris Kidd

Mr Garland, in Braddon, has a similar stance, saying York Park had been good enough for football “for 20 years”, including AFL. “We’re not asking them to play on gravel, for god’s sake,” he said.

Mr Garland said he wanted the next government to axe the proposed Marinus Link second Bass Strait power interconnector, ban fish farms in Northwest Tasmania and introduce a salmon farm resource rent tax.

And he believed the Whaleback Ridge wind and hydrogen project, proposed for the West Coast, should be given more support from government.

Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff urged both major parties to “collaborate and compromise” in the next parliament, which she believed would again feature a large crossbench.

“The key issues we are fighting for this election are stopping the stadium, investment in health, action on the housing crisis, and environmental protection,” Dr Woodruff said.

On the stadium, the Greens would “do everything we can” to push Labor leader Dean Winter “into scrapping the project”, she said.