Greens revel in expanded team as leader foreshadows a big voice in parliament

More than doubling in numbers, the Greens are bubbling with confidence despite snubs from the major parties. How they plan to influence the new parliament.

The Greens will play an influential role in the new parliament despite being snubbed by the major parties in the deal-making to form government, party leader Rosalie Woodruff says.

Dr Woodruff was returned as leader by the new five-member Greens team on Monday. Member for Clark Vica Bayley will serve as her deputy.

Dr Woodruff said that with five members in the House of Assembly, the party would have an influential role despite both major parties eschewing any form of a deal with the Greens.

The party more than doubled their numbers with a second MP in Clark, and new members in Bass and Lyons.

Greens MPs Tabatha Badger, Vica Bayley, Cecily Rosol, Helen Burnet, and Rosalie Woodruff at Parliament House on Monday, April 8, 2024.

“We’re highly confident that we’ll have a very strong position in this parliament as we have in the last one,” Dr Woodruff said.

“The last parliament when it was a minority arrangement where there were only two Greens we did get whistleblower reforms, we did get an ambulance ramping inquiry, we did get a massive extended scrutiny of government businesses and Commission of Inquiry.

“That’s what we could do with just two members.”

Dr Woodruff said the government — which suffered 12-per cent swing against it and failed in a bid to gain a majority of seats — had been sent a message.

“We’ve seen Tasmanians have delivered a historic result at this election, a crossbench of Greens and independents and Jacqui Lambie Network that is larger than the opposition party. It is a true measure of what Tasmanians want.

“They want a politics which is about listening to people genuinely working on the issues they care about, not focused on big corporates not focused on special interests or building stadiums but getting down and renters’ rights, health, cost of living, nature protection, their top order issues for Tasmania.”

And Dr Woodruff said it was “music to her ears” that the Lambie Network MPs would make transparency one of their key priorities.

“The Greens have been campaigning for this for over a decade,” she said.

“There’s no doubt that the Liberals have led Tasmania down a path where we have the worst transparency of any parliament in the country of any government.

“We will be working very closely with the crossbench very open to conversations with the Lambies about what they’re intending and finding opportunities to work together.”