Tasmania Votes 2018 – the Results

5 March 2018

Will Hodgman has become the second Liberal Premier in Tasmanian history to win a consecutive second term with a clear majority government. While the counting continues, the information below reflects the vote count as of Monday 5 March 2018.

The Results

The Liberals have celebrated their return to government on the weekend under Premier Hodgman, who said Tasmanians have voted to “stick to the direction this state is heading in and take our state to the next level”. The party is currently holding 50.5 per cent of the total vote and 13 of the 25 available seats, with the possibility of securing a further two. While Labor has improved on its 2014 results to secure 33 per cent of the primary vote, the Liberals’ win has come at the greatest cost for the Greens, whose support has fallen to just 10 per cent. The Jacqui Lambie Network failed to secure a seat, collecting only 3.2 per cent of the primary vote.

The Hare-Clark electoral system requires a party to secure nearly half the total vote in order to win a majority government; the inherent complexity involved means that a number of seats still remain undecided. In many seats, a party-level outcome is clear but the count between candidates has not yet been finalised.

In the electorate of Bass, three seats remain Liberal, Labor has retained one seat, while a final fifth seat remains in doubt – but will go to either the Greens or the Labor Party. Labor has so far gained a seat in Braddon, bringing their count to two, with three seats going to the Liberals. Voters in Lyons have stuck to the status quo, electing three Liberal and two Labor candidates, while the parties share two seats each in Denison, where the Greens have secured a single seat. A similar situation has arisen in Franklin, where the Liberals have surprisingly maintained their support with two seats, and Labor has gained a seat to secure two in total. As in Bass, the fifth seat remains in play – in this case, between Green and Liberal candidates.

Reflections

Opposition Leader Rebecca White has hailed Labor’s improved results a success, saying “the Tasmanian people have put this Liberal Government on notice”. The party leader went further, accusing the Government of buying seats via its costly election campaign and claiming that voters “should be represented by the best representatives, not the richest”.

Meanwhile, Greens Leader Cassy O’Connor has acknowledged her party was “outspent by the Labor Party and massively outspent by the Liberals”, accusing the Government of accepting “millions of dollars pouring in from the gambling industry”. The Greens’ dismal result has been widely attributed to the popularity of Labor’s anti-pokies policy, dwarfing the minor party’s position on the same issue and detracting from their environmental campaign issues.