Libs hail three-pete

‘Tasmanians have voted for stability and certainty’

PREMIER Peter Gutwein has hailed the Liberals’ historic third Tasmanian election win as a vote for “stability and certainty”.

Counting of the votes from the May 1 election has confirmed that the Liberals will hold 13 seats in the House of Assembly.

Labor will hold nine seats, the Greens two and there will be one independent – former Glenorchy mayor Kristie Johnston.

PREMIER Peter Gutwein has hailed the Liberals’ third election win as a vote for “stability and certainty”.

Counting of the votes from the May 1 state election has confirmed that the Liberals will hold 13 seats in the House of Assembly.

Labor will hold nine seats, the Greens two and there will be one independent.

Housing Minister Roger Jaensch was re-elected in Braddon, along with controversial Liberal candidate Adam Brooks.

Sitting member Felix Ellis missed out on re-election by 213 votes, the only Liberal incumbent to miss out.

Mr Gutwein welcomed the outcome.

“Tasmanians have voted for stability and certainty,” Mr Gutwein told reporters in Hobart on Thursday.

“This is a historic day for the Liberal Party as well, in Tasmania scoring an unprecedented third term as a majority government.

“Along the way we secured incredibly strong results in Bass and Braddon and Lyons.

“We’ve laid out a clear plan for Tasmania to continue to build on our strong economic position, to create jobs and ensure we have skills and training pathways that Tasmanians need. We’ll continue to invest strongly in health, in education and other services that Tasmanians need and importantly we’ll continue our very strong investment into housing.”

Mr Gutwein stood by embattled candidate Adam Brooks, who has been elected as a member for Braddon.

“In terms of Mr Brooks, he has emphatically denied the allegations against him.

“Mr Brooks is taking steps in regards to legal action so I don’t think it’s appropriate that I say much more, other than — as I said during the campaign — Adam has emphatically denied these matters to me and I need to take him at his word.”

He denied the matter was a gender issue. “If Mr Brooks were gay and two men had made these claims, then my position would be the same,” he said.

Mr Gutwein said he would announce his new cabinet next week and would not be drawn on what role he might assign to newcomer Madeleine Ogilvie.

He said the government would push ahead with its controversial TAFE reforms, saying the election gave the Liberals a mandate for turning the public training provider into a government business enterprise.