Jeremy Rockliff

Premier of Tasmania



17 May 2022

Nic Street, Leader of Government Business in the House of Assembly

Legislative Council elections

On behalf of the Tasmanian Government, I welcome the new Independent Member for Huon Dean Harriss and look forward to working constructively with him to deliver for all Tasmanians.  

I would also like to thank our Liberal candidate Aldo Antolli who ran a strong grassroots campaign as a first-time candidate.

Mr Harriss’s election has seen Labor lose a seat it held, with a massive 19 per cent swing against the party on the primary vote this election, when compared with their result in the previous Huon election.

Nobody should forget why this by-election had to occur.

Labor’s internal party chaos caused incumbent Bastian Seidel's messy resignation and has ultimately led to this electoral capitulation - after all it was Dr Seidel who said he could not work in the "toxic environment" under Rebecca White.

Today’s massive loss for Labor follows Dean Winter’s premature trumpeting only a day after the election that Labor candidate Toby Thorpe would come out on top.

The Tasmanian Liberal Government is hard at work delivering outcomes on issues that matter to Tasmanians, yet the Opposition is just going backwards, with no policies, no plans and no ideas.



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