The question has to be asked: Was Helen Burnet’s failure to become Lord Mayor of Hobart because of the State Greens MPs’ power-sharing deal with the odious Labor Government?
Surely she would have been favourite to become the nation’s first woman Greens capital city Lord Mayor … but for the intimate Cabinet association of Nick McKim and Cassy O’Connor with reviled Labor in terminal decline.
The implications of the deal first struck by Nick on mountainbike with unlamented Labor Leader David Bartlett have been profound for even rusted-on Greens supporters who appear to be deserting in disillusioned droves. There has not been the same reaction nationally to the much more astute deal between Bob Brown’s Greens and federal Labor.
Tasmanian Times psephologist Dr Kevin Bonham raised doubts on Burnet’s chances pre-poll:
Although Burnet won the Deputy position last time and is therefore the nearest thing to an incumbent, I have two big reservations about her chances for the top job. Firstly the Greens at state level have not been travelling well in what debatably passes for polling, and while it is easy to overstate the extent to which state issues contaminate local government voting, it would be surprising if they were to get off completely unharmed. Secondly, while there has been plenty by way of policy comments from the Greens, I have not yet seen any signs of an extra-special inspired campaign strategy to achieve excitement about the historic goal of a Green Lord Mayor … Who will be the new Lord Mayor?
