The Liberals have been returned to government after securing a majority of seats at the state election
While it’s hard to imagine a slower system of figuring out who got enough votes to form government, it’s not hard to imagine a faster one. Perhaps it could involve using computers or something. It’s just a thought, suggests Mercury political editor David Killick. LATEST ON THE COUNT >>
Tasmania
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- State election vote count nears the end with first results beginning to trickle in
- Liberals release plans for first 100 days in office if they are re-elected on Saturday
IT has been 11 days since Tasmania went to the polls and we still don’t really know who the winners are.
Hare-Clark is a wonderful manifestation of the democratic urge. But the Tasmanian version is not exactly the author of swift and decisive outcomes.
We have waited for the last dusty, limping Australia Post pack mule to arrive from the outlying provinces with the postal votes.
And now the ballot papers, filled out by hand in pencil are being placed in piles and counted by hand. This is pointy end. We’ve had surpluses thrown, quotas proclaimed, candidates excluded, preferences cast, and losses by fraction.
According to the Tasmanian Electoral Commission, some of the votes have become exhausted. It’s not hard to see how they feel.
The two or three people who actually understand how it all works promise it’s a great system that delivers a surer and more democratic result other systems of finding winners that we haven’t tried in state elections, like paper, scissors, rock or log-rolling or pillow fight knockout rounds. It’s also a fair bit more ponderous (and less fun).
While we’ve all been waiting, psephologists has been reading the entrails and sniffing the wind and the wonks have been dissecting their prognostications with glee.
Candidate X could beat candidate Y, if the winds blow from the east on a night with full moon and the people who voted for candidate Z part their hair on the left.
While the excruciating painstaking nature of the count allows the poets, pundits and wits for fill their days with idle speculation — the rest of us just want to know who the government will be.
While it’s hard to imagine a slower system of figuring out who got enough votes to form government, it’s not hard to imagine a faster one. Perhaps it could involve using computers or something. It’s just a thought.
If that’s forever in the too-hard basket, it’s worth remembering we’ve been in caretaker mode since the end of March.
In a sense, nobody’s been running the shop for weeks now. There haven’t been any major disasters. Maybe that’s the way forward.
Liberals secure majority as final seats called
PETER Gutwein’s Liberals will be returned to power in majority, after securing the crucial second seat in Clark following an update in the state election count.
It means the Liberals have now secured 13 seats in the 25-seat House of Assembly, the same number they held before the party and former speaker Sue Hickey cut ties in late March.
Political analyst Kevin Bonham called the final two seats in Clark would go to Liberal candidate Madeleine Ogilvie and independent Kristie Johnston.
“I don’t have any doubt about it,” he said.
The election of either Ms Ogilvie or fellow Liberal candidate Simon Behrakis was the final piece of the puzzle the Liberals needed to secure a majority.
Premier Gutwein has repeatedly said he would resign if the Liberals did not achieve that, despite his significant popularity on polling day in which he brought in more than three quotas.
The re-election of Greens leader Cassy O’Connor, Liberal Elise Archer and Labor’s Ella Haddad in Clark had already been confirmed.
The TEC confirmed about 7.30pm on Wednesday that the final seats in Clark were filled by Ms Ogilvie and Ms Johnston.
Dr Bonham said it was the first time five women had been elected at a general state election in any seat.
However, it is not the first time Clark has had five serving women MPs — it did during the most recent term, but only after a recount.
Former Labor MP Ms Ogilvie returned to parliament to replace Scott Bacon, who resigned mid-term after retaining his seat at the 2018 election.
The Tasmanian Electoral Commission continued counting into the evening on Wednesday night.
Mr Behrakis was excluded from the count after an update just after 6pm on Wednesday.
It means Liberal-turned-independent, former speaker Sue Hickey, will also miss out on a seat in parliament.
The Tasmanian Electoral Commission said counting was continuing into the evening, with a final result possibly declared by as early as 7pm.
EARLIER: THE Liberals remain on track to win majority government as counting continues in the 2021 state election.
As projected by the Mercury on election night, the new parliament is likely to be made up of 13 Liberals, nine Labor, two Green and one independent member.
The Tasmanian Electoral Commission continues to count votes, eliminating low-polling candidates and distributing their preferences as the day goes on.
A final result is expected by the end of the week.
In the latest counting at 1pm on Wednesday:
In Clark:
- Greens leader Cassy O’Connor has been elected.
- Liberal Elise Archer is closing in on a quota, as is Labor’s Ella Haddad.
- The Liberals have 1.97 quotas and will almost certainly secure a second seat: Madeleine Ogilvie is currently leading Simon Behrakis by 300 votes.
- Independent Kristie Johnston currently holds 0.72 of a quota and is the most likely to win the fifth seat.
In Franklin:
- Liberal Jacquie Petrusma has been elected and Nic Street is the leading contender for the Liberals’ second quota in the electorate.
- Greens Rosalie Woodruff has been elected.
- Labor’s Dean Winter and David O’Byrne are expected to fill Labor’s two quotas.
In Braddon:
- Liberal Jeremy Rockliff has been elected. Adam Brooks and Felix Ellis are the leading contenders for the other two Liberal quotas. Housing Minister Roger Jaensch trails Ellis by just 274 votes.
- Labor’s Shane Broad and Anita Dow are the most likely candidates to secure the remaining two quotas.
In Bass:
- Liberals Peter Gutwein, Michael Ferguson Sarah Courtney have been elected — largely on the back of a huge personal vote for Mr Gutwein. Labor candidates have attracted 1.7 quotas. It remains likely that Michelle O’Byrne and Janie Finlay will be elected once Greens preferences are distributed.
In Lyons:
- Labor leader Rebecca White and Liberals Guy Barnett and Mark Shelton have been re-elected.
- John Tucker is likely to be the third Liberal in the seat and Jen Butler the second Labor member.
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