• Hodgman and Abetz again face off over direction of Liberal Party
• Repeat of 2010 conflict between the pair
• Abetz wants Liberals to follow Donald Trump’s lead
Just days after the Premier urged the party conference to move towards the centre, Liberal powerbroker Eric Abetz has argued for the opposite.
Labor Leader Bryan Green said it’s a split that’s set to plague the Liberals.
“Will Hodgman argued that the Liberals needed to be more like Labor on issues like health and education while Eric Abetz is arguing for the party to be more like Trump,” Mr Green said.
Senator Abetz told ABC radio this morning “What I think centre-right parties need to do is gird their loins and say, look, this is what we believe in, we believe it makes sense.” (Senator Eric Abetz, ABC 936, 10/11/16)
“The two most senior Liberals in Tasmania are divided over which direction the party should go in,” Mr Green said.
“Trump’s victory has encouraged the hard-right of the Liberal party to double-down on their divisive policies.
“This is Eric Abetz telling the likes of Will Hodgman that he’s still in charge of the party in Tasmania.
“The Premier’s dubious promise to move the Liberals to the centre can’t be believed.
“He says he doesn’t want to be “bound by any ideological straightjacket” but we’ve heard it all before.
“In 2010 Will Hodgman tried to stand up to Eric Abetz and failed.
“We cannot give away the middle ground.” “I will fight to make sure that does not happen, even if it costs me my job.” (Will Hodgman, The Mercury, 18/9/2010)
“Six years on and it’s still Eric Abetz who calls the shots in Tasmania,” Mr Green said.
“We saw it at the Federal Election with the promotion of Senator Abetz’s protégé Jonathon Duniam at the expense of Richard Colbeck.
“And the Premier can’t claim to be moving to the middle when his Government is pushing ahead with changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act.”
Bryan Green MP Labor Leader
