Will Hodgman resigns as Tassie Premier

[Badesumofu]

Hannah Martin, one of his key advisors, has already (well before the announcement) taken a job with Federal Hotels.

In the meantime a vote of the 11 remaining members of the Liberal party room will choose the next Premier. Will be Jeremy Rockclliff if they have any sense, but could be any number of people if they do not.

Put me in the camp that thinks he's been crap. Made a total dog's breakfast of the public sector pay negotiations and wrecked our health system while doing very little. Still planning to hand out a set of very valuable pokies licenses for free due to being beholden to the THA and Federal Hotels.

 

[Engimal v3]

Tasmania's health system is genuine dogshit. You'd better not have a medical emergency.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Tasmania is a terrible, horrible place and all you mainlanders should stay where you are because you'll be better off no matter how unbreathable the air gets or how boiling the climate becomes.

Launceston seemed nice. If you were at a certain, contented stage of life aka 50+ and not poor.

 

[The King!]

been a pretty good premier, as far as politicians go

 

[kranky al]

Tasmania is a terrible, horrible place and all you mainlanders should stay where you are because you'll be better off no matter how unbreathable the air gets or how boiling the climate becomes.

F-thati plan on buying some land there as soon as i have a few bob spare.

 

[Father Jack]

Launceston seemed nice. If you were at a certain, contented stage of life aka 50+ and not poor.

Why do you have to be over 50 and not poor?

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Why do you have to be over 50 and not poor?

It's a small town a long way from anywhere.

 

[Father Jack]

It's a small town a long way from anywhere.

And?

 

[Bomberboyokay]

And what?

 

[Caesar]

Hannah Martin, one of his key advisors, has already (well before the announcement) taken a job with Federal Hotels.

One of the political journos on Twitter said that he'd been considering retirement for quite a while, so this makes sense.

 

[Father Jack]

And what?

How does being a small town a long from anywhere mean you won't like it if you're poor and under 50?

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Given the Libs hold 13 of 25 seats it could be an interesting time for Tassie.

I wouldn't say so. They don't hold by-elections for the Tasmanian assembly since they have multi-member constituencies, similar to the federal Senate. They use a countback method by distributing Hodgman's votes amongst unelected candidates according to preferences. And since he got a lot of votes, the next Liberal on the list is pretty much guaranteed to get enough votes to be elected. So the Libs will maintain their 13 seats. I don't think it'll be very interesting at all.

 

[medusala]

Put me in the camp that thinks he's been crap. Made a total dog's breakfast of the public sector pay negotiations and wrecked our health system while doing very little. Still planning to hand out a set of very valuable pokies licenses for free due to being beholden to the THA and Federal Hotels.

How? By not wasting taxpayers money on absurd pay rises like the buffoon in Victoria did?

 

[its free real estate]

Launceston seemed nice

It's a bogan shithole, like 90% of Tasmania.

 

[Father Jack]

It's a bogan shithole, like 90% of Tasmania.

It's no more bogan than anywhere else. Likely less than most places, we're too spread out to be proper bogans.

 

[Badesumofu]

How? By not wasting taxpayers money on absurd pay rises like the buffoon in Victoria did?

No one was asking for absurd pay rises. They mostly wanted respect and were not getting any. Government ended up quietly caving anyway and gave rises in the order of 2.5% despite their supposed 2% wage cap. Could have simply done that before all the s**t-fighting and saved a lot of people a lot of stress and frustration.

 

[Badesumofu]

Anyway, the vote to chose the next Premier will be on Monday and it will be either Ferguson or Gutwein. Ferg is a right-wing nutbag who presided over a disastrous crumbling of Tasmania's health system. Gutwein is supposedly a moderate who has been treasurer. 14 people will vote (11 lower house MPs plus 3 LegCo, Will has said he wont vote) and by most estimates the numbers are roughly 7-7. The Libs are rushing to do this before Will's replacement in Parliament is chosen by recount which strikes me as pretty dumb given the numbers. No reason Rockcliff can't just be acting Premier for a few weeks.

 

[Caesar]

It's no more bogan than anywhere else. Likely less than most places, we're too spread out to be proper bogans.

What is a proper bogan? When I was a kid it was flannos, dirtbikes and bad dental care. These days it seems to be more about racism, steroids and expensive utes.

 

[Father Jack]

What is a proper bogan? When I was a kid it was flannos, dirtbikes and bad dental care. These days it seems to be more about racism, steroids and expensive utes.

I think suburban living is prerequisite as well.

 

[Demons09]

Good bloke and footy player old Gutty.

 

[HardcoreGeelongFan]

I heard the gambling companies said to him "save gambling and you can retire rich and never work another day in your life".

And so he did

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I wouldn't say so. They don't hold by-elections for the Tasmanian assembly since they have multi-member constituencies, similar to the federal Senate. They use a countback method by distributing Hodgman's votes amongst unelected candidates according to preferences. And since he got a lot of votes, the next Liberal on the list is pretty much guaranteed to get enough votes to be elected. So the Libs will maintain their 13 seats. I don't think it'll be very interesting at all.

If the Libs hadn't crunched the numbers to double check, he wouldn't be resigning from parliament.
With "optional preferences" its now even more likely than it used to be that the recount will elect another Liberal. Minor party and indeopendent votes can become exhausted before reaching either major, Libs likely voted Libs next in preferences.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

If the Libs hadn't crunched the numbers to double check, he wouldn't be resigning from parliament.
With "optional preferences" its now even more likely than it used to be that the recount will elect another Liberal. Minor party and indeopendent votes can become exhausted before reaching either major, Libs likely voted Libs next in preferences.

I blame the people for choosing not to preference minor parties.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Tasmania's health system is genuine dogshit. You'd better not have a medical emergency.

True enough.
Royal Hobart had to have so much spent on it just to stop it falling down, and then buckled under the extra weight which was mould ridden anyway; that the Launceston General is no longer a functional hospital and can't retain staff.
Utter shambles. And that's without taking into account what happened when Healthscope got their mits on the Mersey hospital and asset stripped it. And most the smaller "district" hospitals are now nothing more than glorified adult day care or have been closed down. At least the new St Helens one doesn't flood.