Did Gutwein mislead the Governor? | PM plans for Tassie campaign | No deal for Ogilvie
The Premier has been accused of potentially misleading the Governor in calling for an election, while the Labor leader says she is “surprised” the PM would visit the state after cutting JobKeeper.
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- Premier’s State of the State address includes TasTAFE overhaul
- Labor puts housing and healthcare at the heart of its campaign
PREMIER Peter Gutwein may have misled Governor Kate Warner when he asked her to call an election by claiming he was in a minority government, Labor says.
Mr Gutwein visited the Governor last Friday to call the May 1 election on the basis he no longer had a majority on the floor of the House of Assembly.
But Labor MLC Sarah Lovell said Mr Gutwein had not faced a motion of no confidence that might have unseated his government — and would have won one easily at any rate.
“The reason that he has given in terms of wanting to avoid being in a minority government is based on a mistruth,” she said.
“He’s had Sue Hickey, who has publicly and privately assured him that she would continue to offer confidence and supply, and he also had Madeleine Ogilvie, who was clearly lining up to join the Liberal Party.
“His majority would have actually been stronger than it was when he was elected in 2018 at the last state election.”
Ms Lovell said the Premier has questions to answer.
“What did he tell the Governor in calling on her to call for this election?” she said
“Did he mislead the Governor in pretending that he was facing a minority government when it’s very clear that he wasn’t? These are the questions that the Premier must come clean on.”
Mr Gutwein said he had been upfront about why the election was called.
“I’ve articulated my reasons very clearly. We were plunged back into minority government,” he said.
“Tasmania does better under majority government, we need the certainty to ensure that we can secure Tasmania’s future.
“What I need is a government that is stable, that is in majority, that can make decisions. Where we were – in minority – just would not have allowed that to occur.
“In terms of my reasoning to the Governor, the points that I’ve made is that we need certainty, we need surety and importantly parliament as it was currently situated last week, minority that did not provide that.”
Ms Hickey said Mr Gutwein could have been in no doubt about her guarantee of support for the government prior to calling the election.
“There was no doubt whatsoever, I’d been very public,” she said.
“I’d sent him a letter on my new independent letterhead saying I would be supporting him for confidence and supply.
“He had me in writing and verbally … it was the first thing I said.
“He had support from Madeleine Ogilvie as well.
“I know she was approached by the Liberal Party several times to stand. She was desperate to be a Liberal.”
Bec’s ball-busting barb thrown at ScoMo – Tuesday March 30
THE Prime Minister’s office has confirmed Scott Morrison will visit Tasmania within the next five weeks as voters prepare to go to the polls.
But not everyone thinks a rallying of the party faithful in Tasmania is a good idea in the current political climate.
The Federal Liberal Party has been hit by scandal relating to inappropriate, and even potentially criminal, behaviour in the halls of power in Canberra.
Political analyst Kevin Bonham said he was not sure the Tasmanian Liberals would really want the public to be reminded of the presence of Canberra during this state election.
“The Federal Liberals are definitely going through a rough patch at best right now,” Dr Bonham said.
“You would think they would want to differentiate themself from the Feds.
“Mr Morrison’s presence will no doubt prompt questions about matters not associated with the Tasmanian campaign.”
Labor leader Rebecca White says she is surprised the Prime Minister has “the balls” to come to Tasmania to back the state Liberals’ election campaign.
“I’m surprised he is showing his face in Tasmania after cutting JobKeeper. He should be ashamed how he has treated Tasmanian businesses and workers,” Ms White said while Labor unveiled more details of its aggravated trespass and Timber Harvest Safety zone policy at a timber processing plant in Somerset on Tuesday morning.
Ms White confirmed she had talked to Labor Leader Anthony Albanese and she was looking to welcoming him in Tasmania very soon to back her election campaign.
However, Premier Peter Gutwein said he was excited to campaign alongside the nation’s leader.
“I expect that Mr Morrison will be here through the month of April and obviously, I’m happy to campaign with him,” he said.
Asked whether Mr Morrison might be a hindrance given the federal government’s recent performance, Mr Gutwein replied: “He’s the Prime Minister of this country.”
$13.8m jobs hub commitment – Tuesday March 30
David Killick
A re-elected Liberal government would spend $13.8m to boost employment in regional areas, including setting up for jobs hubs, Premier Peter Gutwein said.
Visiting Huonville on Tuesday morning, Mr Gutwein said the hubs would be set up in the southern town, on the East Coast, in Burnie and Brighton at a cost of $10.6m.
“What this will do is provide a statewide network that will ensure that local people can get local jobs,” he said.
“They’ll be run by locals, they’ll have local boards in place with the support of the state government through our new jobs unit to ensure that we can provide the training, the connectivity that’s necessary to ensure that young people wherever they are in the state can get the jobs that are on offer.
The hubs would be modelled on a successful examples at Sorell, Glenorchy and Georgetown and were aimed at finding jobs for 2,000 people over the next three years.
The Jobs Tasmania package announced by the Premier on Tuesday also includes;
– $1.3 million for the pilot Youth Connectors program to operate in conjunction with the existing hubs;
– $1.5m to establish a Jobs Tasmania Partnership fund for partnerships between the State Government and the non-government sector;
– $170,000 for the Youth, Family and Community Connectors in Devonport provide young job seekers with individualised support;
– $190,000 for the Migrant Resource Centres to support Tasmanians from migrant backgrounds who face additional barriers to securing long-term work.
Local mayor Bec Enders is standing for the Liberals in Franklin. She welcomed the pledge of spending in the area.
“I’m really excited about the job hub actually being here, because the idea is that we want to retain as many of those people that are here in the Huon Valley living, to work here as well,” she said.
“We do have 52 per cent at the moment of residents that they do work here and then others travel outside.
“We want to grow that it’s important to grow that because you want the spend here as well to for your own towns to flourish.”
Labor’s jobs plan has a price tag of $470m and a target of 35,000 new jobs.
Tassie fisherman hooks in to major parties – Monday, March 29
WELL-KNOWN North West fisherman and activist Craig Garland is standing for his fourth tilt at election as an independent saying he has “no choice” considering what options the Tasmanian public had been given.
Mr Garland stood in Braddon in the 2018 State election and got three per cent of the vote.
Then he stood in the Federal bi-election in the same electorate sparked by the dual citizenship saga and increased his share to 10.8 per cent of the vote.
The next year Mr Garland stood for the Senate.
He had planned to run as a Local Party candidate in next year’s Tasmanian Election but Premier Peter Gutwein’s decision to go to the polls a year early scuttled that because the new party was unable to register in time.
"I’ve got no choice but to run,” he said on Monday.
“Look at the bunch Tasmanians have to vote for. I see myself as an alternative to the same-old smarmy power-hungry self serving candidates. The major parties do not represent the community at all.”
Mr Garland said the calling of the snap election was all about keeping the major parties in power.
“Even now I only have till April 7 to get my signatures together and pay to run. The snap election was a ploy to discourage independents.
“I plan to spend as little as possible on my campaign to show voters politics does not have to be all about the money. It will be a social media campaign mostly.
“People need a voice and an independent in parliament to hold the government accountable. We also need full disclosure on who is donating money to who.
“As Roosevelt said “government by organised money is just as dangerous as government by organised mob.”
Mr Garland is best known politically for his opposition to a big wind farm project planned for Robbins Island and concerns about salmon farming.
No deal to entice Ogilvie, Gutwein claims
Monday, March 29
TASMANIA’S Premier Peter Gutwein says no deals were cut with former Labor and independent MP Madeline Ogilvie before she signed up as a Liberal candidate on Saturday morning.
In a tweet, political analyst Kevin Bonham said Ms Ogilvie’s conversion to the Liberals removed Mr Gutwein’s justification for spending millions of dollars of taxpayers funds on an early election to achieve a majority government.
Mr Bonham said the Premier needed to say when he knew about her latest political conversion.
Mr Gutwein told the media in Burnie on Monday Ms Ogilvie had filled out her preselection paperwork on Saturday and she had not been offered any sweeteners to get her over the line.
“We live in a democracy. Tasmanians have the choice to vote and a majority government needs to be elected by the people,” he said.
The government lost its majority in the lower house when Speaker Sue Hickey was not re-endorsed to stand as a Liberal candidate in the May 1 election.
The Premier advised her of that decision at her home on March 21.
Mr Gutwein said Labor’s decision to not endorse Kingborough Mayor Dean Winter as a candidate showed the party was in disarray.
Labor announced its candidates for the election in Launceston on Monday.
”I must admit Labor is in all sorts of trouble. When you have the backroom saying who they can pre-elect you are in a bad situation,” Mr Gutwein said.
Premier Premier and Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff were in Burnie to announce the government’s TasTAFE policy.
Under the Liberals’ TasTAFE election promise, 100 additional staff would be hired and TasTAFE would become a government business enterprise.
The policy was welcomed by director of Beardwood Pty Ltd Luke Beardwood who said his company had put on four apprentices last week and other building firms were recruiting to cope with demand.
“We rely heavily on TAFE training and welcome this investment. We have quite a pipeline of work at the moment with eight to 10 projects on the go. Across the construction industry we are hearing work is up 20-30 per cent across the board,” Mr Beardwood said.
Libs promise ‘massive’ TAFE teacher boost
Monday, March 29
Blair Richards
THE Liberals are promising to employ 100 more TasTAFE teachers statewide as part of its overhaul of the state training provider.
As revealed by Premier Peter Gutwein in his recent state of the state speech, the Liberals intend to turn TasTAFE into a government business enterprise.
Labor and the education union have lashed the plan as an attack on TasTAFE that had involved no consultation with teachers, and would lead to worse outcomes for students.
However, the Liberals say the reforms will make TasTAFE more responsive to industry needs and more accessible for students.
Mr Gutwein said the employment of 100 more teachers showed the Liberals wanted to invest in TasTAFE.
“This massive additional investment into new TasTAFE teachers will help more young Tasmanians get the jobs they need,” he said.
“Importantly, it will also help Tasmanian employers to get the skilled young Tasmanians they need to expand and employ more young Tasmanians.
“It took a Liberal government to rebuild TasTAFE, investing more money with more teachers, and the 100 additional teachers will add the extra boost to Tasmania’s public skills and training provider.”
Mr Gutwein rejected criticism the Liberals were seeking to privatise TasTAFE.
“TasTAFE will always remain in public hands as a government organisation under a Liberal government and will be strengthened to help more Tasmanian tradies, apprentices and trainees secure local jobs,” he said.
Mr Gutwein announced the policy in his recent state of the state speech in response to recommendations from the Premier’s Economic and Social Recovery Advisory Council.
The council said it had heard during consultation on how the state could recover from COVID-19 that TasTAFE needed to be more flexible to meet the needs of business.
Labor has promised to provide free TAFE courses across the building and construction, hospitality, aged care, and disability services sectors, under the party’s Free TAFE policy.
The policy, costed at $10m, aims to provide 5000 students with qualifications to find jobs in Tasmania’s fastest-growing industries.
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