Ex-councillor, political staffer Simon Wood to take Gutwein’s place in parliament as Bass MP

The Bass recount set in motion due to the resignation of former premier Peter Gutwein has resulted in the election of a former alderman with deep ties to the Liberal party. MEET THE MP >>

Liberal political staffer and former City of Launceston councillor Simon Wood has been elected to Tasmania’s parliament after the recount necessitated by the resignation of former premier Peter Gutwein.

Mr Wood received 6,633 votes redistributed from Mr Gutwein, or 61 per cent, allowing him to become the newest Member for Bass in the state parliament.

When asked what sort of politician Mr Wood would be, he described himself as a “straight shooter”.

“What you see is what you get,” he said.

“My word is my bond.”

He also said he “believed” he was a moderate in the Gutwein mold, the work ethic of whom he “wished to inherit”.

Pressed on what he wanted to accomplish in the parliament, Mr Wood said he wanted to help ease the cost of living and address social issues.

Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson, a fellow Bass MP, said Mr Wood was a “good friend of mine” and noted the pair had worked on a number of campaigns together.

He said Mr Wood understood the needs of families and was passionate about supporting small and large businesses.

“We know you’ll do a fine job,” Mr Ferguson said.

According to his Tasmanian Liberals profile, Mr Wood has been “actively involved in the Tasmanian political scene for over 10 years”.

“He currently works for the office of Senator Wendy Askew in a constituent and community engagement role.

“He has previously held roles in the political offices of Andrew Nikolic, Senator Jonno Duniam and Senator David Bushby also.

“As a former Alderman in the Launceston City Council (2014-2018), Mr Wood was heavily involved in several major projects including the Festival of Voices and the Australian Rally Car Championships.

“He has also served as President of the Old Launcestonians Association... (and) assists his wife with the operation of her osteopathy practice in Launceston.”

Greens angry over $12m Liberal election grants spree

The Liberals ran a $12.4m grants program as a private election war chest to bribe voters, the Greens claim.

Party leader Cassy O’Connor released documents on Thursday revealing the Liberal party conducted an internal application process for their own candidates to apply for funding pledges under the Local Communities Facility Fund in the lead-up to the 2021 election.

The application form is marked: “internal use only for candidates – do not provide externally” and has a closing date of April 9 last year.

The money is described as “Liberal’s Local Communities Facilities Fund” in the letters Peter Gutwein sent on Liberal Party letterheads informing organisations allocated funding before the May 1 election.

The projects were funded in the August budget after the Liberals were returned to power.

There is no public record of an application or assessment process and a list of the successful applicants was first made available only on Thursday.

The revelations come after the Liberal Party’s $21m taxpayer-funded cash splash in the lead-up to the 2018 election was found to have lacked accountability, openness, fairness and criteria to ensure value for money by the Integrity Commission.

A Commission report found it was unclear how the Liberals decided on the recipients of the millions of dollars announced two days before the poll, a new report from the commission notes.

“These “regional grants” were a series of individual fin­ancial election commitments. There was no complete list of these grants, or any public criteria.”

Greens Leader Cassy O’Connor said the revelations were troubling.

“Elections shouldn’t be about picking winners based on how many votes you can get from a particular organisation, they should be about vision and a contest of ideas,” she said.

“This is buying votes, plain and simple.

“Madeleine Ogilvie’s wishlist totalled over $800,000. Those publicly-funded promises helped Ms Ogilvie win her seat, and ultimately deliver the Liberals government.

“We hope the Integrity Commission will also investigate the 2021 election, given the Liberals continued the same corrupted practice.”

Premier Jeremy Rockliff defended the grants program and the application process.

“It’s democracy in action,” he said.

“Every candidate, every member of parliament should be having very close contact with their community, understanding the needs of various organisations, not for profit organisations, service organisations within the community, sporting organisations and in terms of sporting organisations, of course, infrastructure gets tired over a number of years,” he said.

“And it’s quite rightly, anyone can put their hand up to have an upgrade of a netball court or a basketball court, or soccer ground or soccer rooms or whatever it might be.

“And that’s just a natural process of elections where candidates are out there listening to their community.

“It’s very transparent in that candidates, and of course members of parliament at every election, and I’ve been through seven or six elections where we talk to our local community, where we ascertain the needs in touch with the community at that very grass roots level.

“If a particular political party is successful at the election, then those commitments of course, are part of the budget process.”

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