When I moved to Tasmania at the end of last year, I didn’t realise I would only have three months to brush up on local politics before being asked to vote in a state election. Not to worry! I’m smart, politically engaged and eager to learn, so figuring out how to vote for the betterment of my new home shouldn’t be a challenge, right?
Wrong. As a newbie, trying to wrap my head around this election has been a humbling and infuriating experience.
It starts with the flow of information, or lack thereof. Australia’s highly concentrated media landscape is most stark in Tassie. Hobart has only one major newspaper. Where is this former mainlander — with a healthy distrust of News Corp-owned papers and commercial radio — to go to research names I’ve never heard before? Besides the ABC and a few independent newswire-style sites, local digital journalism is paywalled.
Young people overwhelmingly get their news online and from social media — and while Australia has some fantastic independent digital news publications, the political coverage tends to focus on Canberra, NSW and Victoria. Tasmania doesn’t get covered with the depth its population deserves, which leaves those new to the state or new to voting with little hope of figuring it out.
Pair that lack of quality news with the complicated Hare-Clark voting system, used to elect seven MPs per electorate. In the single-transferable vote method candidates must reach the quota (12.5% of formal votes cast, plus one) and once they’ve hit that number, any additional votes received are redistributed at a reduced value based on the preferencing on the ballot. I’m not confident I could explain it to you in person.
According to the experts, the system is fairer as no valid vote is “wasted”. It also (theoretically) produces a more representative result by restricting the control of the major parties to dictate a single candidate option to constituents. Don’t want Eric Abetz representing you? No problem — you can prioritise other Liberal candidates instead, still voting for your preferred party without having to support specific individuals.
Despite these theoretical advantages, it’s a more confusing system. There is no “above-the-line” voting option. How-to-vote cards are prohibited at the polls, putting the onus well and truly on the voter to figure out how best to allocate their preferences.
For the system to work as intended, I’d have to be across the individual policy priorities, factional positions and backgrounds of more than 30 candidates. Even I do not have the time for that (and, again, where do I find independently reported information on these people?)
The complex voting system and weak local news coverage results in the kind of fractured government that sparked this early election in the first place. Candidates are competing against their peers in the same party and electorate, which means factional politics and old grudges play a huge role. There is far too much lore to be learned!
It’s not just Tasmanian Labor that’s broken by it; the polls are predicting a hung parliament, with the Liberals unable to beat outright a Labor Party that’s been in administration for 18 months. Minority parties and independents are tipped to feature so heavily that cobbled-together coalitions will be needed to form both government and any meaningful opposition.
I’m not knocking the concept of minority governments, they can be very productive and even progressive. But three of these potential independents were Liberal and Labor MPs as recently as 2023! Why would they be any more cooperative if reelected as indies? As in federal politics, the Greens have little in common with the current version of either major party. The ambitions of the Jacqui Lambie Network are only to hold the balance of power — no unified ideology, for now it’s just a quest for seats.
If I’m feeling like this, I can’t begin to imagine how uninspired and overwhelmed younger voters must be. It’s an impossible task with no pathway to something better. But above all, I’m annoyed — I was supposed to have another 12 months to figure this out.
Do you have any predictions or tips for the Tasmanian election? Will the last Liberal government in the country hang on to power? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
A key issue in Tasmania is which politicians are going to take action on the horrific child sex abuse that has taken place in state institutions?
This abuse was confirmed by the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in
Institutional Settings.
But little to no action has been taken against the people who committed this child sex abuse and the people who have covered it up.
It’s very sad that mainland Australians have so little knowledge about this major scandal. This article below features the whistleblower who blew the lid on the whole thing.
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/the-brave-whistleblower-who-exposed-horrific-institutional-child-abuse-in-tasmania/
Nick Feik has been hammering away at that scandal on Xwitter.
Crystal, if it makes you feel any better, I have been in Tassie for 14 years; my day job involves working with the political system up close and personal; and I still have no idea how to identify the minimum 7 candidates to vote for. Having said that, there are some other useful sources – Tasmanian Times and Tasmanian Inquirer are good alternatives for news. Tassie psephologist Kevin Bonham’s electoral analysis (https://kevinbonham.blogspot.com/) is up there with the renowned Antony Green – but with a lot of local detail – although Green’s website is providing good background into the myriad of wild card candidates in this election. I’ve decided the most sensible option is to treat this as spectator sport, and sit back and eat popcorn while this SNAFU plays out – and see what we end up with. Always happy to have a chat off line, if you’re interested.
Looking for independent views on current affairs and news? Try https://tasmaniantimes.com/
Re Erich Abetz, I read that he received more “last” votes on the Tas Senate paper than any other candidate at the last election at which he stood, ie every other candidate, regardless of party, was accorded a higher number than him.
We used to try that in the ACT in an effort to dislodge Zed as one of our two senators. But the quotas needed for a senate seat always won out as the ALP got well more than one quota but not enough for two. In the end it took some canny ALP voters to change to the independent David Pocock so that we achieved an ALP and an independent senator. Pocock has proved a wonderful choice.
I agree – Both Pococks = Green Barbara and Independent David – have been an excellent addition to Parliament and the standard of governance. Would that we could clone them.
The Advocate is great local newspaper – independent, curious and unashamedly proud of NW Tas. An asset to the community and it’s politics.
How is it not clear that you have the chance to personally participate in utterly destroying the notion of the Tories being the natural govt of Australia and that they are better by right of birth. The media will be left to consider a truth that they can’t deny. The Australian people will vote for Labor and the media has to stop pretending otherwise. It will be a watershed moment for what’s left of progressive govt in Australia, since Keating bequeathed us the Age of Howard.
“a watershed moment for WHAT’S LEFT OF progressive govt in Australia”
I’m afraid those words in caps are doing some pretty heavy lifting there; picking up that hopeful notion and putting it down in a muddy puddle of meh.
We’re talking a used toilet paper version of ‘progressive’ here. Charging off the cliff at a new and improved, slightly reduced pace. Yay
Democracy can be hard work, but its worth fighting for!