Labor’s Dean Winter elected unopposed as party leader replacing Rebecca White after election loss
The new leader of the Tasmanian Labor Party Dean Winter says his main priority is “jobs, jobs, jobs” after being elected unopposed. His ambition to return Labor back to their glory days.
New Labor leader Dean Winter says his main focus will be on policies which create “jobs, jobs, jobs” for Tasmanians.
Mr Winter was elected unopposed as leader at a Parliamentary Labor Caucus meeting on Wednesday. Anita Dow was returned as deputy leader.
Speaking at a press conference immediately after the meeting, Mr Winter pledged to work to boost the levels of safe, secure and well-paid employment.
“Tasmanian Labor stands for jobs. That’s what we’ve stood for our entire existence,” he said.
“We stand for jobs in our regions, we stand for jobs in our public service because we understand that Labor governments are the best governments for Tasmania,
“We understand that for the past ten years without Labor governments, Tasmania has struggled.
“We understand that with this new minority parliament and the minority situation we’ve already seen 5000 jobs lost.
“Tasmanian Labor stands ready to work with this parliament to try and make Tasmania better but also to hold the Liberals to account.”
Mr Winter said part of rebuilding the party’s electoral standing was emphasising its core values.
“The question that I keep getting asked is what does Labor stand for? That’s not because of anything we’ve done,” he said.
“I just want to make sure that Tasmania is really understand and are reminded what Tasmanian Labor does stand for and we do stand for jobs, we stand for the economy, we stand for the regions.
“We want to make sure we’ve got a strong economy to provide the services that Tasmanians desperately need.
“It was Tasmanian Labor that built the Hydro, Tasmanian Labor built the first wind farms in Tasmania, we built Basslink, we built the gas pipeline.
“Tasmanian Labor is the party that has delivered jobs, has delivered the infrastructure that has grown our economy and that’s what we want to get back to.”
Mr Winter said he was determined to deliver the party back to the glory days of its electoral success under leaders like Jim Bacon and Eric Reece.
“We understand that Labor’s got to change: there are 18-year-olds who weren’t actually alive, the last time that Labor won majority government. It has been a long time,” he said.
Mr Winter replaces Rebecca White who has served as party leader and as opposition leader since 2017.
The Queenstown born father-of-two worked in roles in high tech industries and is a previous mayor of Kingborough.
He was initially overlooked for Labor preselection before the 2021 state election before topping the poll for the party.
Winter is coming: MP to be announced Labor leader
Initial: Dean Winter will become the new leader of the Tasmanian Labor Party at the party’s first parliamentary caucus meeting since the state election on Wednesday.
Mr Winter will stand unopposed as leader with Anita Dow as deputy — avoiding the need for a vote of MPs and party members.
The 38-year-old replaces Rebecca White as party leader and as opposition leader. Ms White held the role since 2017, except for one month in 2021.
Mr Winter is a previous mayor of Kingborough who was initially overlooked for Labor preselection in 2021. He went on to top the poll for Labor in Franklin.
Mr Winter quickly became one of Labor’s best parliamentary performers, taking on roles including Leader of Opposition Business in the House and the complex energy and racing portfolios.
As the incoming leader of the opposition in a fractious parliament, Mr Winter acknowledged his party had a big task after three state election losses in a row.
“I’m excited for the job. I’m raring to go,” he said.
“I’ve been in the party for almost 20 years now. I joined the party when Paul Lennon was the premier of the state and I’ve been working in and around the party ever since.
“This has happened much more quickly than I thought it would but I hope that the experience that I bring from leading one of Tasmania’s largest councils to almost three years in the parliament will hold me in good stead as I try and emulate some of those great leaders in bringing Labor back to government.”
Mr Winter said Labor would hold the Liberals to account to deliver their election promises for as long as the government managed to stay afloat.
“If they behave and perform in the same way as they did over the last two and a half years, I don’t think the parliament will last very long, but we are always hopeful as Tasmanians that the government will do a good job but where we need to hold them to account, we will.
“Those promises are important to Tasmanians around health, for example, that the ban of banning ramping is something that they’ve promised to do.
“While I’m sceptical that they can do it, we have to give them the chance to do that and hold them to account whether they’re successful or not.”
Mr Winter said that his focus would be ensuring Tasmania made the most of the economic advantages the state enjoyed, particularly in renewable energy.
“We are at a point in time in Tasmania, where we have massive opportunities around renewable energy, around our economy, and around tourism,” he said.
“But we need to have government in place that’s able to make the most of those opportunities. “The concerns that I’ve raised consistently over the last few years have been that those opportunities have been squandered — particularly around hydrogen, around energy.
“We need to do more to get more energy into the grid. We need to have an economic vision for this state that can actually be delivered
“They’re the things I’ll be pushing for as leader of the Labor Party.”
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