Liberal and Labor leaders have traded barbs over a website address and a signature policy business name as Tasmania’s election campaign enters its final week.
The island state is heading to the polls on July 19, some six weeks after minority Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff lost a vote of no-confidence in parliament.
The Liberals, who have been in power since 2014, have governed in minority since 2023 with voter surveys pointing to another hung parliament.
Former Labor premier Paul Lennon has thrown a spanner in the works of the Liberals by registering the business name TasInsure.
TasInsure is the Liberals’ self-described signature campaign pledge to create a state-owned insurer.
The Liberals returned serve somewhat, setting up a website at TassieDoc.com.au after the Labor-named pledge to create five government-run bulk-billed GP clinics.
Mr Rockliff, whose party has committed to matching Labor’s TassieDoc plan, denied his party was playing political games.
“(The website) is simply explaining a policy,” he told reporters on Saturday.
Mr Lennon told The Australian he registered TasInsure to expose the fact it wasn’t a serious proposal.
Labor leader Dean Winter said he wasn’t concerned about the Liberals claiming TassieDocs.com.au because information would be available on official health channels if he was elected.
He said Mr Rockliff had gone to the trouble of making TasInsure merchandise without providing costs or any modelling about why the proposal stacks up.
“What Jeremy Rockliff has been doing is running around with hats and posters telling people about policy that has no detail to it,” Mr Winter said.
The no-confidence motion against Mr Rockliff, put forward by Labor and supported by the Greens and three crossbench members, was critical of his budget management.
Tasmania’s net debt is set to more than double to almost $11 billion in 2028/29, according to the most recent budget.
An increased number of voters have already made up their minds ahead of the election, Tasmania’s second in two years and fourth in seven years.
Almost 54,000 people have cast pre-poll votes heading into the final week of campaigning, more than double the 26,000 figure at the equivalent point in 2024.
The Liberals hold 14 seats and Labor 10 in the state’s 35-seat lower house.
https://thewest.com.au/politics/election/website-business-name-slanging-in-election-campaign-c-19332987
