Economy
Tasmanian political leaders face off in televised debate
Tasmania’s next leader … ?
The Tasmanian Premier has joined the Liberal Leader in urging Tasmanians to ignore the minor parties.
Lara Giddings has told a televised leaders’ debate in Launceston doing another deal with the Greens would destroy Labor.
Ms Giddings dumped the Greens from Cabinet after almost four years of power-sharing in government.
Despite the polls predicting otherwise, Ms Giddings is adamant Labor can win next month’s election and govern in its own right.
“The only way you’re going to get majority government in this state is to not to vote for the Greens, not to vote for the Palmer United Party, and not to vote for Independents, National or any other colour,” she said.
“Let’s be frank here, it should be between the Liberal Party and Labor Party – both can deliver majority government.”
The Opposition leader Will Hodgman responded that only the Liberals could achieve that.
“I appreciate that there are no silver bullets and there is no quick fix to deal with the challenges we face, but we have a plan and the Liberal plan is all about giving Tasmania strong, stable majority government so we can get things done in this state,” he said.
Discussion was dominated by the economy and the ballooning deficit.
The leaders struggled to say nice things about the other when they were asked to name the best quality in their opponent.
• Nick McKim on the Leaders’ Debate: “While Lara and Will were sitting in a room pretending to attack each other while actually agreeing on most things, we kept focussed on our alternative vision for real change in Tasmania.” “Perhaps they were nervous about debating someone who has a genuinely different vision for Tasmania, rather than the more-of-the-same future that Labor and Liberal are offering.”