Poll shock leaves Hodgman worried

PREMIER Will Hodgman says polling showing Tasmania is on track for another hung parliament has left him “very concerned”.

Exclusive new ReachTEL polling — commissioned by the Sunday Tasmanian and the Mercury — revealed not only had Labor leader Rebecca White overtaken Mr Hodgman as preferred premier for the first time, but if an election was held today the Liberals and Labor would struggle to either retain or form a majority government.

The poll of 2817 Tasmanians taken on Friday night had the Liberals losing seats in Braddon and Franklin, with the Government’s majority likely to hinge on Lyons — the electorate of Ms White.

A third seat in Lyons would ensure the Liberals a majority with 13, but the Government would lose that if it went to Labor, the Greens, an independent or a minor party.

Mr Hodgman said the possibility of a hung parliament left him “very concerned”.

“That’s why we are working very hard to prevent that,” he said.

“Because the track record shows that 3½ years into a majority Liberal government our state’s economy is strong, our budget is back in balance, there are more Tasmanians employed . . . we believe in our plan and what we are trying to do to give Tasmanians a brighter future.”

He ruled out doing any power-sharing deals with any other parties or independent candidates and said he did not want to “hypothesise” what the Liberal Party would do if it could not form a majority.

Deputy Labor leader Michelle O’Byrne also said her party would not enter into a power-sharing agreement.

This raises the possibility of neither Liberal or Labor not being able form a majority government, which could then lead to the possibility of Tasmanian Governor Kate Warner stepping in.

Ms O’Byrne said in this situation parties would have to see how their legislation would fare on the floor of the house.

“We have made a very strong commitment that we won’t be going into any minority or partnership arrange- ment,” Ms O’Byrne said.

“The way that it [no party being able to form majority] would work is if there is no clear outcome the Governor will offer government to whoever the Governor chooses to do so, but Labor is out there and we are fighting hard to win.

“The reality is that is you don’t have clarity on the floor, then you just have to take really good legislation to the floor of the house each day and see how it goes.”