‘Talentless and tired’: Sue Hickey lashes Liberals and announces comeback bid

The former Liberal speaker turned independent Sue Hickey will have another crack at parliament. She doesn’t hold back on what needs to change.

Sue Hickey will run as an independent in the seat of Clark at the Tasmanian state election 2024. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Sue Hickey has revealed she will run again as an independent in Clark saying the Liberals are “talentless and tired”.

After narrowly losing her seat in 2021, the former Liberal speaker in the House of Assembly, Hobart lord mayor and now deputy Glenorchy deputy mayor said she had considered running “on and off for six months”.

“I got so annoyed I thought ‘ok, you’ve got the skills, you’ve got to give it one more go and try to make things better’,” she told the Sunday Tasmanian.

“My major concern is that we have had a decade of cover-ups, lies and in-fighting.

“The two-party system has failed us.

“Ten years of unstable Liberal domination has crippled many of our public services.

“The Liberals are now talentless and tired.”

Sue Hickey speaker. Question time in the Tasmanian parliament. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Ms Hickey believes the government has been “a massive failure” in many areas including, health, education, housing and child protection.

“Every time they become overwhelmed by the avalanche of problems, they call an unnecessary election to wipe the decks and try to reset when they should be working to fix these problems.

“We have a population with almost 50 per cent functional illiteracy and numeracy skills, which is completely unacceptable and does not prepare a workforce for our future needs.

“I do not care if you live in Taroona or Granton, you should have safe, accessible, reliable transport to education, appointments and jobs. How has the Liberal government destroyed our public transport system?

“We can’t continue to put our head in the sand on climate change when we’re seeing islands around the world go under and people don’t want to believe it’s man-made.”

She decided to run before former Attorney-General Elise Archer withdrew.

Sue Hickey will run as an independent in the seat of Clark at the Tasmanian state election 2024. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Ms Hickey said when she was first elected as a Liberal in 2018 she worked hard for better policies.

“I tried very hard in the tent to improve the situation, but those in power would have none of it,” she said.

“My time in office was not all wasted.

“I stopped a few bad laws, had a housing complex made habitable for 50 people, got heat pumps into social housing, $5m urgent funding for the RHH ED one Christmas, $8m for female gynaecology for women who had spent years bleeding on the waitlist, access to abortions for those who needed them and many minor victories for families in need.”

On housing she said she was “screaming like a banshee” and coming up with solutions but the government lost five years dithering while Tasmanians faced “this incredible paralysing fear of homelessness, or just living on the edge of it”.

Ms Hickey said ideas such as tiny homes and villages for the elderly could have been trialled.

In 2021 then Premier Peter Gutwein told the outspoken MP she would not get Liberal endorsement so she resigned from the party and stood as an independent at the election he called soon after.

“I hope that a new parliament with more independents will encourage rigorous negotiation and much better outcomes, and important laws will not just be rammed through the parliament without considering the unintended consequences,” she said.