Transcript of speeches made by party leaders Jeremy Rockliff (Tasmanian Liberal Party). Rosalie Woodruff (Tasmanian Greens) and Dean Winter (Tasmanian Labor Party), official House of Assembly election Tally Room, Grand Chancellor Hotel, Hobart, 19 July 2025.
Jeremy Rockliff, Tasmanian Liberals Leader.
Jeremy Rockliff
Well, thank you all, to all Tasmanians, I’m very humbled by tonight’s result. A little over six weeks ago, the Leader of the Opposition forced this unnecessary election on the Tasmanian people by moving a vote of no confidence.
Well tonight, the people of Tasmania, in return, have said that they have no confidence in the Labor Party and they have voted to re-endorse our Liberal government.
It is our team, the Liberal Party, who will achieve the most seats in this election with a significantly increased vote, and I thank you. I would like to thank all Tasmanians on that basis.
There is some way to go at the conclusion of the counting and the return of the writs, but I intend to visit the Governor and ask her to re commission my government so we can get on with the job for Tasmania.
Tasmanians have spoken, as they always have and will continue to do, so now is the time for those who have had, have had and will have the great honour of being elected to Parliament, to work together with goodwill across the chamber, in the best interests of all Tasmanians.
Each and every one of us who have been elected cannot expect to get 100% of everything we want. We must work together, respect the will of the people.
Be mature, be pragmatic, but most of all work in the best interests of all Tasmanians.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the people of Tasmania for the great privilege that you have provided me in being a member of parliament, a minister in the government and premier of Tasmania for the last three years.
I also want to acknowledge and thank every single one of the 160 candidates that stood at this election for your courage and your conviction, all of whom have stood to try, in your own way, to make a positive difference to this wonderful state. To see your name on the ballot paper for the very first time, in many cases, is a moment I know you will never forget, as you become part of Tasmania’a very rich democracy.
I would especially like to thank all of our Liberal team and our 34 candidates. Thank you so very much. It has been such a privilege to work with you, as I have travelled in every corner of this beautiful state to be with you and alongside you at this election, I am humbled by the loyalty, I am truly humbled by the loyalty of our parliamentary Liberal team and all of our candidates, your dedication and your commitment to your community and our Liberal team is extraordinary. Your support has given me enormous strength in what has been a very challenging time, and for that, I say thank you, you and all your families can be enormously proud.
I also want to thank the people of Braddon for putting your trust in me and electing me for my eighth parliamentary term.
Tomorrow, July the 20th, will be the anniversary of my first ever election in 2002 some 23 years ago. So to all the people of Braddon, from Latrobe to Burnie, Smithton to Queenstown, and my beloved King Island, I thank you for the great privilege that you have given me to serve your community.
Being a member of parliament and to stand for election and to serve, this is a tough gig. It is tough on families, and I want to acknowledge Dean Winter as Leader of the Opposition, his wife Allison and family. I know, and especially the people behind me know, how tough this is for our loved ones.
This was about building what we have all achieved together over the course of the last 11 years: one of the strongest economies in the nation, the lowest unemployment on record, 3.8% and the lowest of any state in Australia. The highest participation of women in the workforce, more people employed than ever before.
We have worked so hard to achieve this, the new schools, the upgraded classrooms, the upgraded health facilities across our state, essential infrastructure, cost of living relief and keeping our communities safe. This has been the focus of our team, and this will continue.
I have learnt in public life to make it my job to always stand for something and not against something. Because when you stand for something, you build Tasmania’s future.
Finally, can I thank my wonderful campaign team, the president of the Liberal Party, Michael McKenna, state director Sam McQuestin, my chief of staff Ed Whitehouse, all our wonderful volunteers. And I want to thank each and every single person that has not only worked with me and our team in government, of course, on the campaign as well, but every single person that’s worked alongside me in employment the last 23 years, I’ll never forget you. You have provided me with great support, great wisdom, great encouragement, and for that I will always be grateful.
Our campaign team, our volunteers and our Liberal Party members, I say thank you. And finally, to the greatest strength that one could ever have, to my mum, Jerry, to my incredibly supportive wife, Sandra, to Sandra’s parents, Terry and Margaret, and to my beautiful daughters, Ruby Lucy and Holly, I’m so proud of you. Thank you. And to Lucy, who has just turned 18 and voted for the very first time. I do hope you gave your dad number one, but if you didn’t, that’s okay.
And to my extended family, you have sacrificed a lot in the last couple of decades, especially the last few years you’ve been with me through the highs and the lows and everything in between. And I love you all.
Once again, let’s get on with the job. Let’s work together and do the very best we can for this magnificent state of Tasmania.
Rosalie Woodruff, Tasmanian Greens Leader.
Rosalie Woodruff
Good evening. Hello. It’s fantastic to be here. I want to start by acknowledging Lutruwita / Tasmania’s first people, the Palawa Pakana, who have shaped this island’s landscape for tens of thousands of years. The Palawa never ceded this island to colonisers. Their land was taken in a violent dispossession. I also want to recognise a treaty that was promised two centuries ago by the colonial administration that has never progressed. That promise was made again recently, and once again, it was walked away from. The Greens are committed to returning lands to truth telling and to treaty.
And I also want to recognise at this point in time the genocide that’s occurring in Palestine and the Greens stand for the people of Palestine for freedom, for peace and for return of their lands.
Well, what a mid winter roller coaster this last five weeks have been. Democracy is always something to celebrate.
But even so, we acknowledge this election wasn’t what anyone wanted. Both major party leaders had options to avoid it, but here we are, and democracy is a beautiful thing. And on behalf of the Greens, I want to give a shout out to all the people who had the courage to stand for election. Every person that puts their hand up plays a part in our democracy.
And I also acknowledge, I want to acknowledge, Jeremy and Dean’s work on this campaign. Elections are gruelling for everyone, especially for leaders and their family, and this campaign has been like no other I’ve ever been part of.
A bitterly cold campaign held over the school holidays immediately on the tail of recent elections wouldn’t have been anyone’s wish, but the Greens did what we could to bring energy and fun to our campaign, and despite the challenges, despite the challenges of a snap election, this has been one of the biggest campaigns that the Tasmanian Greens has ever held.
While it might all look like simple politics on the outside, elections are truly made up of individual people who are driven by values, and they’re made up of all the people here and across this island, They’re committed to change, people who are willing to give up their time to fight for it, and we heard it on the doors every day. Tasmanians are crying out for change. They look at our state and see serious issues.
People can’t find a home and can’t afford the basics. They’re struggling to get by day to day, forced to make impossible choices about which bill to pay or if they can afford to run the heat up on freezing nights. And when you call an ambulance in Tasmania, you’re waiting longer than anywhere else in the country. Urgent surgeries are overdue. Our coastlines, our waterways are polluted, our forests are being destroyed every day in the pursuit of a quick buck, but at the expense of what makes this island unique and special on earth.
And on top of it all, the budget is in a complete disrepair, and instead of tackling these crippling, real issues, both the Liberals and Labor want to spend more than a billion dollars on building in this state a third stadium.
In time of such need, it’s heartbreakingly out of touch, and that’s been the approach for major party politicians, but the Greens are putting our community’s needs and the environment first.
It’s about policies that will make Tasmania a better place now and into the future. It’s keeping public assets in public hands and protecting public services from being cut. It’s a health system that gives the care that’s needed when it’s needed instead of grinding workers into the ground hour by understaffed hour. It’s cleaning up fish farms, protecting our coastline, ensuring a healthy marine environment and saving the Maugean skate from extinction.
It’s public schools that are free for everyone and that have the resources they need. It’s strong environmental laws and a truly independent EPA. It’s action on climate change. It’s catching up to the rest of the country and giving renters real rights and bringing the thousands of houses lost to Airbnb back to being homes for Tasmanians.
It’s an end to native forest logging and protecting our biodiverse carbon-storing forests. It’s improving the rights, conditions and pay for workers. It’s making big corporations pay their fair share so we can keep delivering and improving the services that all Tasmanians rely on.
It’s about making sure the years spent on the Commission of Inquiry and all the pain and sacrifice made by victim survivors and whistle blowers are not in vain. That we close Ashley, that we implement all the critically-important reforms needed to protect children. And it’s about building homes and health facilities, not building a stadium.
So as everyone predicted, things aren’t entirely cut and dried tonight, but things are looking very good for the Greens.
We will keep watching the votes and preferences flow over the next couple of weeks, but at this point, I’m so happy to say we’ve held our five seats, and I’m so proud that I’ll be returning to parliament with Cecily Rosol, Tabatha Badger, Vica Bayley and Helen Burnet.
It’s not over yet in Braddon, we’re not out of the hunt, and I’m crossing my fingers for Vanessa Bleyer, a terrific candidate, and I want to give a huge shout out to all the people, all of our volunteers who’ve worked so hard in Braddon and who are watching this tonight.
The Greens are a more-than-four-decades-old grassroots movement that doesn’t take money from big corporations. We ran a truly grassroots campaign across the island this election, and I want to thank everyone involved, our fantastic support candidates, our committed, energetic volunteers who helped us have thousands of conversations with people on the doors who showed up at 6am and donned a Green beanie to wobble board on dark, freezing mornings, who gave up their weekends to door knock and make calls to voters, and of course, the 650 generous people who donated to the Greens campaign, we couldn’t have done it without you.
To our campaign team, the party Director Gemma Kitsos, party Convenor Damian Irving, and our terrifically capable party managers, Deb Rees and Caitlin Barlow-Groom and all the other special people. A special thanks to our friends across the ditch, the four Victorians who jumped on a plane at short notice, you know who you are, and you wove magic for us.
Thank you, parliamentary staff who have been critical to our energetic organising: Alice, Tom, Steve, Dan, Rachel, Ellen, Alex and Sam, your integrity and commitment to driving positive change is inspiring. Along with our electoral advisor team, we couldn’t have done a snap election without your smarts, your sass and jokes and your can-do everyday attitude. I want to thank my family: Paulie, Tilda and in absentia, our dog Ziggy who’s a Green campaign mascot. You all helped make this possible, and we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you.
So, Tasmanians have rejected majority government again.
People have seen how broken politics gets when major party politicians put the profits of big corporations and vested interests over the needs of the community.
In conversation after conversation this election, people voiced their dispirited frustration, their great desire to have elected representatives who focus on solutions for the serious issues of the day and into the future. Everyone elected owes it to the community to deliver on the message that they’ve sent, and that means recognising differences of views in Parliament, finding out what unites us and how we can collaborate in the best interests of the people of Tasmania.
Finally, I have a message for Dean Winter. After last year’s election, Labor decided not to even try to form government with the Greens. After your successful no confidence motion last month you didn’t take up our offer of a conversation about working together to avoid this election. Now, Tasmanians have chosen the next parliament. This conversation needs to be had. Representing our communities is not a game. It’s about working together to make positive change.
Yes, there are differences, but the Greens and Labor have a lot in common too. We are ready. We are ready to work collaboratively in the best interests of Tasmanians and Dean I hope you put them first this time too.
So in closing, on behalf of the Greens and all you good people here, I want to make the same commitment to Tasmanians that we made every day during the campaign. Whatever happens next, we are going to go back into the parliament, and we are going to do everything we can to work towards a better future f or this beautiful island, Lutruwita / Tasmania. Thank you all.
Dean Winter, Tasmanian Labor Leader.
Dean Winter
Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you. I’d like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of land in which we meet today, acknowledge their elders, past and present.
Friends, elections can be tough, and everything has to be put into perspective. Early in this election campaign our community lost Constable Keith Smith. In Ulverstone you could feel a community mourning. It felt like the bottom had fallen out of our state, and it felt like we were all part of that loss.
I’ve had tough days on this job but my family, like most families though, always knows that no matter what happens in my workplace, I’ll always come home safe. But for Janaha and Ava, Keith’s family, that didn’t happen, and we’re still thinking of them and Keith’s police family. Tasmania Police is an outstanding institution, and they were exemplary in the way that they commemorated that during the election campaign.
I’d like to acknowledge tonight as well all of the candidates who’ve run and lost tonight. It is a huge undertaking to run for political office, to leave your job, to quit your job, to take on the opportunity to make Tasmania a better place.
And no matter what party people stood for, whether they stood for as an independent, I know that every party, every candidate, stood to try and make Tasmania a better place.
I’d also like to acknowledge Jeremy Rockliff and his family tonight. Again, politics can be tough, and I have fundamentally real concerns with the direction this state is moving in. But I do know that Jeremy cares deeply, and he has been in Parliament now for longer than anyone and his result in Braddon tonight in particular reflects his service.
I’d like to thank my caucus and my Labor movement in particular, the two behind me, Anita Dow and Josh Willie, who’ve stood with me every step of the way and our entire Labor caucus. I’d like to thank them for their loyalty and their friendship over the past year or so and through this election campaign. I’d like to thank our affiliated unions, who always stand side by side with Labor and our candidates and who fought to build a better future for Tasmania.
Tonight, the Tasmanian people have spoken, and they have delivered another hung parliament, and with it a resounding message that they want their politicians to work together more collaboratively. They are not happy with politics as usual, and they want to see see things done differently.
And the Premier’s speech early tonight showed some of the same approach that he took on election night some 16 months ago, and we know that has not worked. That’s not what Tasmanians have just voted for. Tasmanians have voted for a parliament that represents a diverse range of views, one that appears highly likely to be progressive in majority. And it is incumbent upon all of us, all of us, to respect the will of the people to make this new parliament work in the best interest of Tasmania.
Whoever forms the next government will need to develop a new approach to politics in this state, one where genuine collaboration and willingness to work together and an ability to put aside differences as the order of every single day. I’ve listened to Tasmanians’ verdict tonight, and I understand that they are deeply dissatisfied with the way our parliament has worked, and they want a change of approach.
The result of this election is that the Liberals will have the most seats, but it is uncertain as to how they will achieve a majority.
I have enough respect for Tasmanians to be upfront and honest about that I won’t be going back though on what I’ve committed to.
Labor does stand for, safe, secure, well paid jobs, and I want to be clear that I’m not going to be trading away any of Labor’s policies or any of our values. If the Liberals are unable to form a government, another election is not an option.
But fundamentally, what Tasmanians have asked us to do is collaborate on big challenges that face our state, and there are many. Our budget is in crisis, and I can’t stress this more firmly to Tasmanians. There is a budget crisis in this state, and there are too many Tasmanians that can’t get into to see a GP, and they can’t afford it if they can. Our housing waiting list has doubled, while new builds are at some of the lowest levels they’ve been in for many years. And more young Tasmanians are leaving the state than we have seen ever before.
The Tasmanians are telling us that they want us to treat each other with respect and committing to work and commit to working together for the next four years. But however the coming days play out, Tasmanians can be assured that I’ve heard the message that they’ve sent, and all played my part in making this parliament work in the best interest of our state.
It seems likely that the three major parties in the state will end up with more or less the same number of seats as they did in the last parliament. Another election is not an option, which means we need to figure this out.
This will take leadership. It will take maturity, and it will take a willingness to work and seek common ground. Whoever forms government after this election, I commit to that being my approach going forward.
Finally, we had our campaign launch on Sunday and I forgot to thank someone very special, my wife, Allison. And I have to say something: I agree with Jeremy very strongly on this, is that is the impact that this has on families, has just as much impact on families as it does yourself. I did plan for my kids to come out with us tonight, but they’re asleep, so they’re not here. But then they start feeling it. The family starts feeling it.
I know our whole family, our whole Labor family feels the pressure of an election. Thanks goes to you, to my family and to my Labor family and to our union affiliates for all of your help and support.
Tonight’s result didn’t go as well as I wanted to, but I commit to continuing to work with you, our Labor friends, to fight for a Labor government that delivers a Labor agenda for our state. Thank you.
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