Transcript of media conference with Tasmanian Greens Leader Cassy O’Connor, Parliament Lawns, Hobart, Tuesday 5 April 2022.
Cassy O’Connor
Well, the first thing I want to do is thank Peter Gutwein for his service to Tasmania and its people and to wish him the very, very best for life after politics. I wish him all love, laughter, fulfilment and happiness. I think now that the priority for the Tasmanian parliament in terms of governance and democracy has to be restoration of the numbers in the House of Assembly.
We do not have a strong, stable Liberal majority government. This is a government that’s lost three members in a year, lost a minister now lost a premier, is looking around for a new premier. And it’s very clear, I think, to the overwhelming majority of Tasmanians that the parliament is too small: too small for good governance, too small for times of crisis, such as this when you need that stability and consistency of leadership.
So when parliament does return, we’ll be moving that the House gives its in principle support to restore the numbers in the House of Assembly to their 1998 levels, 35 members, because that will deliver much better governance for Tasmania, and it will strengthen our democracy.
Journalist – unidentified
What do you think the Liberals look like without Peter Gutwein?
Cassy O’Connor
I think the Liberals look like quite a divided party. Now you can see very clearly the factions there. There’s a strong right wing faction and there are some moderates there like Jeremy Rockliff. It looks like a tired party. And I think it needs rejuvenation, as does the House of Assembly, which is why we need to move to restore the numbers in the House of Assembly.
Journalist – unidentified
Is someone that you see is a best fit to step into into that Premier role?
Cassy O’Connor
Well, I mean, ultimately, that’s a matter for the Liberal Party. Personally – and I worry that this is a kiss of death – I would like to see Jeremy Rockliff step up and take on the Premiership. He’s kind and he’s decent and intelligent. And he, he’s always, I think, always put the public interest first. So I’d very much hope that Jeremy sees that this is his time, that Tasmania needs him to be our Premier.
Journalist – unidentified
What would you make of Michael Ferguson as Premier?
Cassy O’Connor
I don’t think Michael Ferguson has the right character to be Premier. He’s brittle, unforgiving, couldn’t apologise to victim survivor. Tiffany’s Skeggs for almost three weeks after he behaved appallingly in the House of Assembly. I don’t think Michael Ferguson has the character to be the Premier of Tasmania.
Journalist – unidentified
Regardless of who it is, what should be the priorities of that new Premier?
Cassy O’Connor
We need to have a new Premier who immediately deals with the rapid spread of COVID in our community. We need a Premier that commits to implementing all the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, that continues the important work with Aboriginal people on treaty and takes real action on climate, ends the logging of native forests and sets this island up for a truly sustainable future.
Journalist – unidentified
You mentioned some of the projects that the Premier had underway such as the Commission of Inquiry and the treaty, what do you think is going to happen to some of those including the stadium and the closure of Ashley, do you think there is a new Premier who will have the same conviction for those projects?
Cassy O’Connor
It depends who the new Premier is. I think if Jeremy Rockliff steps up, we will continue to see some real progress around that Commission of Inquiry, and treaty. And I think these are issues that are really important to Tasmania’s future so that’s why I hope so much that Jeremy Rockliff steps up. This island needs compassionate and decent leadership, a person with integrity who will continue some of that really important work that Peter Gutwein started.
Tasmanian Times
One of the recommendations of the reconciliation report last year was to take a really good look at the possibility of Aboriginal seats in the parliament. So do you think the return to 35 would be a good way that we could do both of those things, get more depth in the parliament and have that indigenous voice?
Cassy O’Connor
Yes, restoring the numbers could certainly help us to make sure we have Aboriginal representation in the Tasmanian parliament. It’s important to remember that a tri-partisan committee of the House of Assembly when it looked at restoring the numbers all agreed the number should be restored to 35. And all agreed that we should have Aboriginal representation in the Tasmanian parliament. That’s a position of Liberal Labor and Green members of the House of Assembly. It shouldn’t be contentious, so let’s just get on with it.
Journalist – unidentified
Should the government be returning to Parliament and asking for a pair rather than proroguing?
Cassy O’Connor
Well, it’s a huge step to prorogue the parliament. What it means is that every bit of business that’s on the table of the House of Assembly is over. And the Governor’s being asked to prorogue Parliament just for a countback. We think it’s a big step, and we’re not sure it’s justified. And we’d like to know why there hasn’t been any attempt to negotiate a pair with Labor so that the Parliament could continue its business while there was a countback in Bass. It just feels like this is the executive overriding the parliament and its business, it’s very worrying.
Journalist – unidentified
Do you have a preference for (inaudible)?
Cassy O’Connor
I don’t know either of those two candidates for Bess. Ultimately, it will be the person who most voters in Bass preference. So let’s wait and see. I’m looking forward to seeing some new talent in the Parliament. But we need much more talent in the Parliament. We need 10 extra members in there after the next election so we’ve got that depth of talent, we’ve got a capacity for the Premier of the day to replace a minister with someone of quality, should we have the kind of crises that we’ve had over the past year.
Journalist – unidentified
And the fact that we’ve now had two premiers leave not off the back of an elections, can Tasmanians still have faith there’s a point in going to the polls?
Cassy O’Connor
There’s always a power in voting, and a very important point in voting. We live in a democracy, and we have to nurture and treasure that. In politics, people leave, and you could see it in the Premier’s face yesterday. He’s absolutely shattered, he’s exhausted. And part of the reason he’s so exhausted is because this House is too small. And it’s made his job so much harder. The Premier of the day shouldn’t be carrying three or four ministerial portfolios as well as trying to be the Premier. And that’s why restoring the numbers in the House of Assembly is so so important. And it’s got the support of the business community, the community sector and an increasing number of Tasmanians, who look at the dysfunction in here and recognise that we need more talent, more depth and breadth in the Tasmanian Parliament from across parties. And I’m hoping that when Parliament returns, that we’ll have the same commitment to restoring the numbers that we saw when the parliamentary committee handed down its report two years ago, and that the House will agree the numbers need to be restored.
Journalist – unidentified
Have you spoken to Peter Gutwein since yesterday’s announcement?
Cassy O’Connor
No I haven’t. I was tempted to drop him a text but I haven’t done that yet. But I did put out a statement that I hope he read so he knows that I know he had a crack.
Journalist – unidentified
(inaudible)
Cassy O’Connor
I think there’s too much momentum now within the Aboriginal community and the wider community for treaty, truth telling, justice and the return of lands. Whoever is the Premier they will know that this work must continue. Because as an island community, we have to have genuine reconciliation with Aboriginal Tasmanians, in order to be the state we’re capable of being.
Tasmanian Times
Peter Gutwein was the Minister for Climate Change, how do you assess his record in that area? And also, maybe make a few comments about the IPCC adaptation report just released.
Cassy O’Connor
Well, I haven’t read the adaptation report yet. What I know is that 10 days ago, the temperature in Antarctica was 30 degrees above average, Celsius. And in the Arctic, it was 40 degrees above average. We are in a time of climate emergency. It’s very regrettable that during Peter Gutwein’s time as Climate Minister we didn’t see an updated Climate Change Act, we didn’t see an end to native forest logging and protection of our carbon stores. So I hope that whoever the new Premier is recognises that young people are crying out to see leadership from government on climate change, to see us able to do things differently, so we set this beautiful island and its people up for a truly sustainable future. We can be a beacon to the world of what’s possible. It just needs leadership, political will, and some resourcing.
Journalist – unidentified
There was some commentary out of Saul Eslake this morning that while Mr Gutwein was no doubt a great financial steward, there was a lack of willingness to maybe spend some of that political capital on some reforms if you’d like. Would you I guess endorse that?
Cassy O’Connor
Well, if you have a look at the history of politics in Australia and Tasmania, conservative governments tend not to be reformist. They’re administrative in many ways. I mean, they look after the moneyed interests, but they don’t do big reform because they’re sort of intrinsically not particularly brave. You tend to see more reform coming out of progressive governments. Not that Labor’s as progressive as it needs to be. But I’m not surprised that Saul Eslake has made that observation because a lot of what’s happened here, and particularly when Peter Gutwein was Treasurer, was just dumb luck. I mean, he can try to take credit for turning the state’s economy around, but all the indicators in 2013 when we were in government were heading in the right direction, because we made hard decisions in government. And shortly after the Liberals won, the Australian dollar corrected itself and an incredibly export dependent island community like ours started to do better. So Peter Gutwein, wasn’t a particularly brave or visionary, treasurer. He, he managed the state’s finances. And a lot of what we heard I think about that was self congratulatory spin from the liberals.
Journalist – unidentified
Do you think Peter Gutwein’s resignation will impact on Scott Morrison’s campaign?
Cassy O’Connor
Well, it may. We saw in the most recent voter opinion poll that Peter Gutwein’s popularity or the Liberal’s popularity had dropped by eight points, and that’s because of the rampant spread of COVID in our communities. So the Liberals down here know they’re on the nose. Whether or not Peter Gutwein resigning will help Scott Morrison’s chances I don’t know and I certainly hope not. Because Scott Morrison is unarguably the worst Prime Minister this country’s ever had.
