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Tasmanian Election Fails to Deliver Real Solutions, Alliance Says
The Tasmanian election has concluded and codified a Liberal minority government, effectively reinstating what we already had prior to Dean Winters call of no-confidence.
Whilst the Liberal Party has declared victory, Tasmanians clearly see through the political spin, they acknowledge that this as not a win for Tasmania or the good of the people; but truly, a win for the Liberal Party.
Both major parties have failed to present a genuine alternative to the worsening crises of housing, healthcare, and ecological destruction. With neither party achieving a majority government, the people of Tasmania send a clear message to our government:
They are fatigued, uninspired, and want real solutions now, not hollow political verbiage.
Yet, both parties remained tethered to market-logic and privatisation as answers to these problems. This presents an inherent contradiction and an ever-blinding reality. Any ‘reform’ which does not address the structural conditions which produces these outcomes, is not only doomed to repeat them, but is also deluding its true intent- the endless expansion of capital- from those who most desperately need solutions.
A Broken System Failing Tasmanians
More than 8,200 Tasmanians are now on the social housing waitlist, with average wait times of 82 weeks. The state fell far short of its own construction targets, delivering only 706 homes in the last quarter against a goal of 1,306.
Rent has surged by over 40% since 2020, leaving 76.8% of Tasmanians experiencing high rental stress, the highest rates in the country.
Yet both Labor and the Liberals remain wedded to the same market-driven solutions- developer subsidies, first-home buyer grants, private rental incentives- the very things enabling housing shortages.
Tasmania still has some of the weakest renter protections in the country, with limited caps on rent increases, insecure tenancy agreements, and few penalties for landlords withdrawing properties into the short-stay market.
While both parties cling to neoliberal dogma, Tasmanians sleep in tents, cars, and overcrowded houses.
The housing crisis is not inevitable, nor is it a simple matter of supply and demand.
It is a result of conscious political choices that prioritise developers and investors over people.
Stadiums Before Services
Despite overwhelming public opposition (69% of Tasmanians), both Labor and the Liberals have treated the Macquarie Point stadium project as a non-negotiable. This bipartisan obsession reflects loyalty to corporate interests rather than the will of the people.
At a time when hospitals are understaffed, housing is in crisis, and cost-of-living pressures are pushing families into poverty, both major parties are spending political capital on a stadium that Tasmanians do not want.
Ecological Vandalism Continues
Whilst the Liberal government has rescinded minor environmental policy in the form of temporary protection of 39,000 hectares of forest from native logging, as well as a pause to the expansion of the states salmon industry whilst a review takes place.
These are small concessions, informed not by a need for genuine environmental protection, but rather done as a means of solidifying their position of power and to demonstrate their ability to ‘play ball’.
Make no mistake, the election result still locks Tasmania into further ecological destruction.
Native forest logging, (subsidised despite its active depreciation in value), and the polluting salmon industry continue to receive government protection.
The protection of these industries is not about jobs, (which make up less than 1% of the state’s workforce), but about preserving profits for a handful of corporations at enormous public and ecological cost.
The Need for Socialist Solutions
Tasmanians overwhelmingly support the expansion of public housing, universal healthcare, and environmental protection.
These are socialist policies in practice, yet major parties refuse to embrace them due to decades of neoliberal conditioning.
Business as usual has failed. The way forward is a mass expansion of public housing, investment in public healthcare, and a rapid transition away from destructive industries. Tasmanians need a people-first government, not one that bows to bosses, developers, or multinational companies.
The Socialist Alliance calls on Labor, the Greens, and the cross- bench to reject deals that prop up governance in favour incremental change, and maintenance through the enabling of the status quo. But instead, to use their positions to demand real structural change, proactive change that serves the people of Tasmania.
We need to remind ourselves that just because things are the way they are now, does not mean that they must be.
We need a political perspective which can transcend the simplistic ‘yes or no’ approach that is plaguing Tasmanian politics, we need to address these issues with the weight and the complexity that they deserve, with collective good at the forefront of this approach. The Lutruwita Socialist Alliance is that change.
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