Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Saturday, Tasmanians returned to the polls for the second time in 16 months. It was an election nobody wanted and an outcome nobody thinks was worth the disruption and cost. Hanging over the fiasco was, of course, the state's dire financial situation, because there are less than 600,000 people in Tasmania and we're facing a debt of roughly $13 billion by 2028—and that's despite the chronic underinvestment in our busted health and education systems, not to mention the appalling housing crisis and choking traffic congestion.

But at least one thing is clear after the poll, where the Independents enjoyed a surge in their vote and no major party secured even close to a majority, and that is that the community expects all of those elected to grow up and, this time, make a parliament work. So Liberal and Labor must stop insisting that only majority government is okay and that the crossbenchers are just wreckers and roadblocks. It's simply not the case. Indeed, it's a lie because the crossbench vote shows that they are not fringe players but central to the operation of the Tasmanian parliament. In other words, it's time for Liberal and Labor to pull their heads out of the sand and to face the reality of power sharing. Anything less will show contempt for the long-suffering Tasmanian community.