The biggest losers from the Tasmanian election are the two major parties — an appropriate outcome given how poorly they have served their citizens.
After forcing a minority government to an election, Tasmanian Labor suffered a swing of over 3% and barely crawled to over 25% of the vote — a stark contrast to federal Labor’s thumping success in Tasmania less than three months ago, and far below the level of combined support for the Tasmanian Greens and independents. The Tasmanian Liberals earnt a 3% swing but, despite securing half as many seats again as Labor, still remain well short of majority government.
As Saul Eslake pointed out today, neither Labor nor the Liberals have demonstrated any seriousness about the long-term fiscal problems facing Tasmania — problems demonstrated in the Liberals’ shambolic budget and its addiction to ever-more spending. And both sides remain committed to the gravest fiscal folly of all: the Hobart stadium, about which the Liberals were prepared to ignore clear evidence and basic process to get started.
Despite efforts by the Hobart media, including the ABC, to attacks sceptics of the stadium proposal, the great majority of Tasmanians are opposed to it and want the deal for a football team renegotiated with the rapacious, gambling-addicted AFL.
Interesting how both labor and liberal have committed to sort out the budget but are both also committed to building an entirely unnecessary stadium which is guaranteed to make things worse. Can’t get more Tasmanian than that.
— Jon Kudelka (@kudelka.bsky.social) July 20, 2025 at 7:11 PM