Tasmanian Liberal party rocked by branch mass revolt
An entire branch has shut down to protest against Tasmania’s Rockliff government ‘losing its way’ and becoming ‘elitist’.
An entire Liberal Party branch has shut down to protest Tasmania’s Liberal government “losing its way”, in a major blow for Premier Jeremy Rockliff, already rocked by defections and a staff exodus.
The party’s Northeast Branch of up to 40 members has ceased to function, after the branch president quit and a core of fellow members vowed to follow, claiming the nation’s last Liberal government had “lost its way” and become “elitist”.
Their extraordinary actions leave the party without a functioning branch across a swath of the state - the farming, forestry and tourism-dominated Dorset municipality, including Scottsdale, Bridport and Ringarooma - in the key battleground seat of Bass.
More broadly, the public revolt threatens to further weaken Mr Rockliff’s leadership, embolden internal critics, and spook a party shaken by May’s defection of two Liberal MPs to the crossbench.
Northeast Liberals said the trigger for the revolt was the government’s refusal to assist branch president, local Dorset Mayor Greg Howard, in his battle against what they regard as “vexatious” code of conduct complaints. However, they said of equal weight was wider disenchantment at the government’s lack of consultation over an array of issues, including forced local council mergers and an increase in the number of state MPs.
“There is a feeling they have lost their way,” said Glenn Moore, a stalwart of the branch and party member for “25 to 30 years”.
The Rockliff government’s plans to force local councils to merge was “a big issue”. “They will leave the smaller municipalities like our own high and dry with virtually no representation,” Mr Moore said.
There was concern the government had failed to support Mr Howard in his battle against “unfounded” code of conduct complaints made by his adversaries, and to deliver promised reform of the complaints process.
“Greg was our president and he has had a lack of support from the politicians in regard to those code of conduct issues,” said Mr Moore.
The unrest came to a head at what was meant to be the branch’s annual general meeting on June 28 but instead turned into a mass walkout.
“There were about 16 of us present and everyone who was present resolved not to renew their memberships (due from June 30),” Mr Moore said.
“The whole branch has gone into recess – it’s stopped functioning. People are not renewing their membership in the (annual) renewals out now.”
Mr Howard, who described himself as a “lifelong member of the Liberal Party”, said it would be wrong to dismiss the revolt as purely about the lack of government support for his code of conduct battles.
“I’ve resigned as president and told the membership on the night we were due to hold the AGM and they said ‘well, if you’re out, we’re out’ and they all just walked away,” Mr Howard said.
“But there are a lot of broader issues. We didn’t approve of the compulsory voting in council elections. We don’t approve of going back (from 25 seats) to a 35 seat parliament. We don’t approve of the way they’ve managed the local government restructure.
“A number of party members expressed to me their concern that since Peter Gutwein went (as leader, in favour of Mr Rockliff, in April 2022) the party is starting to look a little bit elitist and doesn’t really represent the members. They are just not happy.”
There was now effectively no Northeast branch and there would be no members to re-form it, he said. “We were the highest moneyed branch in the state and they’ve just basically ignored us,” he said.
Party director Peter Coulson would not comment on the grievances, but confirmed the Northeast branch was “in recess”.
“The Northeast branch continues in existence but is currently in recess,” Mr Coulson said. “I can’t make any comment about Councillor Howard while he’s under the code of conduct process.”
Mr Rockliff did not respond to a request for comment. Local Government Minister Nic Street said the government had “listened and responded to concerns regarding the code of conduct, and have legislation currently before the Parliament to fix it”.
“We are committed to making sure local government can deal with grievances of all types and create an environment where elected officials can operate without the fear of vexatious complaints defining their time in office,” Mr Street said.
“Our government remains focused on delivering our long term plan and doing what matters for all Tasmanians.”
Some senior figures in the party argue it would be inappropriate for the government to intervene in any one case.
Three families are so far known to have resigned their memberships, but dozens are expected to fail to renew memberships currently due.
The code of conduct findings against Mr Howard, which he is challenging before the courts, relate to his public put-down of local critics. These include former councillor Lawrence Archer, father-in-law of federal Bass Liberal MP Bridget Archer.
