We’ll be positive, pledges Premier

PREMIER Will Hodgman has conceded the Liberals need to run a positive campaign if they are to be re-elected in March.

The party came in for severe criticism over personal attacks on independent candidate Doug Chipman during the byelection for the Upper House seat of Pembroke.

In a live-streamed end-ofyear interview with the Mercury, Mr Hodgman said he expected the contest with Rebecca White’s resurgent Labor to be close.

“I feel that it’s going to be a tight election contest and I accept the fact we need to do more to talk positively about our plans for the future,” Mr Hodgman said.

“We try and do that as often as we can, more often than not.

“We have come a long way in four years, and I think it’s important to note how far the economy’s gone and the improvements we’ve made in health and education.

“Tasmania is a very different place now to what it was four years ago, so we’ve got a strong story to tell.”

The Premier answered live questions from readers, as well as from the Mercury, when he visited our studio yesterday.

He described the election, a date for which has yet to be confirmed, as one of the most important in Tasmania’s history.

“It’s a truism in politics — if you change the government you change the direction of the country, or the state in our case,” he said.

“And that’s what will happen here so it will be a very important decision for Tasmanians to make and I ask them, why would you want to go backwards?”

The Government is banking its fortunes on the strength of the state’s economic turnaround and strong budgetary position.

Mr Hodgman rarely strayed off-message but he confirmed controversial policies rejected by the Legislative Council could be taken again to voters.

They will definitely include the proposed takeover of council-owned TasWater.

Mr Hodgman denied his Government’s legislative agenda had been unrealistic.

It was certainly bold, it was ambitious, it was in line with what we promised,” he said.

“You don’t get everything your own way and that’s the nature of our democracy.

“We respect that and you don’t always do things perfectly, but we put our best foot forward, we told Tasmanians what we wanted to do, we tried to explain it as best we could.”

The Mercury’s end-of-year interview series will continue next week with Greens leader Cassy O’Connor appearing on Tuesday and Opposition Leader Rebecca White on Wednesday.

A few things didn’t go all that well perhaps this year, the TasWater takeover, some of your sentencing reform, some forestry policy in the Upper House. Was it a realistic legislative agenda that you tried to achieve this year?

It was certainly bold, it was ambitious, it was in line with what we promised and you don’t get everything your own way and that’s the nature of our democracy. I think if we look back on what we have achieved over the last four years, almost all of our policy commitments have been delivered — and we’ve got a new agenda which we hope to implement next year.

So you’ve said you will take some of these policies back to the election again?

We fundamentally believed, with respect to TasWater, that the current model isn’t serving the state well and our alternative plan has merits that are a great improvement on the status quo and it would be unusual for us not to persist with something we believe in.

Now we’ve got a question coming in from a reader via our live feed. Brian Mooney is asking: “There’s been virtually no progress on local government reform or amalgamations, yet many polls have showed strong support for both. Will you commit to making these election issues?”

I think it’s not true to say or fair to say that there haven’t been significant improvements in local government reforms. Our planning reforms to deliver the country's first statewide planning scheme is a massive body of work ... that’s delivered consistency across 29 municipalities that will provide a more streamlined process for developments. We have met building regulations which are making it easier for our building and construction sector to get things done without having to get bogged down in red tape. There are also a number of councils under our leadership and with our support that are considering shared services models.

It appears that Labor is kind of on the march in Tasmania at the moment. Do you feel voters are deserting your government? Well I feel that it’s going to be a tight election contest, and I accept the fact we need to do more to talk positively about our plans for the future and we try and do that as often as we can, more often than not. We have come a long way in four years. Tasmania is a very differ- ent place now to what it was four years ago, so we’ve got a strong story to tell and we’ve got a great team that’s committed to delivering the next phase of our plan for the state. If you change the government, you change the direction of the state. So it will be a very important decision for Tasmanians to make and I ask them, why would you want to go backwards?

Another question from a reader. Mark Bartlett asks: “Where do the Liberals stand on a cash for containers scheme for Tasmania?”

We are very conscious of the im- post this would have on Tasmanian communities, Tasmanian businesses, small businesses. We want to keep cost of business and cost of living pressures down, so we are carefully considering the implications of a scheme like this for our state. There are a lot of things we could do to support more sustainable practices and to protect our environment, but we don’t want to do things that will penalise business in the process.

Voters are asking for you to point out your big achievements over the last term. Obviously the economy has turned around and you’ve been in control. What other big achievements do you point to in that time? Yeah, that’s certainly one: more jobs, 10,000 more jobs under this term of government. Our unemployment rate is down. We have got the Budget out of deficit. Now, a lot of people probably wonder why it’s so important, but it’s been critical to help us get through some significant challenges we faced as a state last year, and in 2016; floods, fires, the Basslink energy crisis — we were able to get through those because of a stronger budget position. But importantly also, we have been able to invest into our hospital