Fisherman Craig Garland turned around the Mavericks Independent Congressman in the northwest corner of Tasmania, and he summed it up when he told the state legislature on Thursday morning.
Garland is not confused about what he is doing- he calmly supports liberal Prime Minister Jeremy Rockliff's motion of distrust. But he expressed doubts about how the Tasmanian parliament got here and everything ahead.
Many Tasmanians agree, based on responses online and in dialogue broadcasts.
Many people from the outside to the inside, the events in Parliament this week looked like a completely avoidable form of collective madness, which, despite many powerful words, was basically meaningless.
The vote of distrust, presented by Labor leader Dean Winter, passed at the lowest profit margin Thursday afternoon: 18-17. It has pushed the country to the brink of a new election just 15 months since the last time.
Strangely, the state is still in this position despite all the major players (liberals, labor and the Greens) proclaiming that elections are a bad idea and should not happen. Everyone has the ability to prevent one person. This does not mean that everyone is equally blamed.
We need to rewind for 15 months briefly. On March 23 last year, Tasmanians chose what some called the Rainbow Parliament, while others described it as chaos: 14 liberals, 10 labor, 5 greens, three MPs, from Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) and 3 independents.
No political party is close to the 18 seats required by most governments, but the Liberals have obvious support. Although the off-road MP consists primarily of progressive MPs, Winter refused to lead the state, claiming that he would never deal with the Greens.
Rockliff won the confidence and support of JLN's budget supply, while independent David O'Byrne is a former labor leader who wants an ALP government but wants parliament to work. In the months after the JLN collapse, the government's position became more volatile.
The remaining JLN MP Andrew Jenner refused to vote for the budget released in September, breaching his promise to ensure the government survived. At the time, Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister Michael Ferguson was forced to resign and move to the backstage when facing a successful vote of distrust in the face of mismanagement of the new spirit of Tasmanian Ferguson.
The Greens moved two motions of distrust in Rockliff — one in a promise of shelved gambling damage minimization, and the other was the controversial AFL stadium planned for Macquarie Point on the Hobart Waterfront.
Despite the noise, the Prime Minister seems relatively safe. Just last month, Labor believed the state needed a period of stability. Tuesday changed when Winter made a motion of distrust at the end of his budget reply speech, surprised the observer and announced that he would move it when he obviously had enough support.
This is a courage to cross-Taiwan and governments. But this is a strategy without a clear final.
The motion, ostensibly about budgeting, argues that Rockliff ruined the state’s financial situation, planned to sell public assets and mismanage the ferry. The budget was allocated five days ago, which has been widely criticized for increasing debt and spending and has failed to provide solutions to structural problems. Some government supporters say it's the worst they've ever seen.
However, opposition leaders did not act differently for labor and did not propose a certain attitude if the motion was not trusted to proceed.
The goal is to push the Greens to the side of Rockliff into chaos, or more likely to seize the prime minister's scalp by forcing liberals to replace him, almost certainly, a less popular person.
None of them happens.
The bill quickly gained support from Garland, Jenner and independent Christy Johnston (who had supported an earlier motion of distrust) on Tuesday. The Greens announced their support after a meeting Wednesday morning.
But the Greens don't want the motion to be just a budget. The secondary party attempted to modify it including a rejection of the stadium, one of the biggest issues in the biggest public debate in the past year, given that the possible cost could be over $1 billion and due to the recognition that the Tasmanian devil is building the AFL it built. Their leader, Rosalie Woodruff, also proposed working with the Labor Party to try to form an alternative government.
Both steps were rejected. The Greens knew they would. They still support the action.
Over the past week, some comments argued that the motion would lead to a minority government in labor societies. However, the relationship between the two parties in the state is hostile and ideologically not far apart. Since becoming a labor leader last year, Wen's specific stance has been arguing for "traditional industries", including Aboriginal forest logging, salmon farming and mining - rejecting his suggestion that he would work with minors.
Winter did not have a conversation with the inter-Classics before making a motion for unconfidence, and the Labor and the Greens mostly voted against Rockliff for different reasons.
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There is a profound history. From 2010 to 2014, Labor and the Green Party stood out in the partnership, with the two Green Party serving as ministries. In the winter, the relationship has become even more distant, which is close to former Prime Minister Paul Lennon, a sure pro-business and anti-green figure.
Given that the state has elected four consecutive times and has less than one-third of the seats in the state’s Commons, there is not much analysis of the realization that this raises questions about whether labor can form government at any time. It continues to think it can win a majority.
The workforce and the Greens are also very different in the stadium, which has become a political problem facing the country and has caused significant public resentment towards the government.
Polls show that most of the public opposes every voter, especially in the northern part of the state. But the stadiums are supported by two major political parties – especially because neither of them wants to be accused of killing the Tasmanian AFL team, which still has overwhelming public support.
There is a strong case where the state capital needs a new stadium to make the club successful. But the state government is spectacularly stuffed with this argument.
It signed an unbalanced deal under which AFL paid $15 million in direct funding for the construction of the stadium. Foreseeable, the stadium’s cost to taxpayers has exceeded Rockliff’s initial commitment, which costs $375 million. The site itself is controversial.
The Prime Minister has broken his promise on the issue and has recently tried to push legislation to bypass the independent House of Lords that could block the stadium. Meanwhile, the AFL refused to get out of its line - Macquarie Point without a team without a stadium.
Critics, including the Greens, accused the government of being under AFL pressure, pointed to the crisis facing the country in terms of housing and health, and believed that stadiums were unreasonable. Some claim there is no evidence and the AFL may be forced to re-cut the deal. Some vocal critics don’t care if there is a team. But that's not where most of the public are.
It's a mess that continues to hurt the government, but it doesn't necessarily win support for Labour. Tasmanian devil executive Kath McCann collapsed at a press conference as she thought the club’s future was uncertain whether it was deleted.
While this is not the subject of a motion of distrust, you may have a decent case where stadiums (including the AFL's refusal to adapt to real Tasmanian concerns) will cost Rockliff his job.
But this hasn't happened yet, and it's unclear whether it will.
The liberals have at least supported Rockliffe, rather than replacing him with one of the list of potential competitors. Liberal MP believes the budget has been supported by the government, not just rock music, and supports him in early elections without trusting the motion.
They may change their minds. Business leaders warn elections can hurt confidence and stall investments. Some senior liberal figures have urged the parliament to elect new leaders to avoid forcing Tasmanians to vote again. The council must return on Tuesday to pass the short-term supply bill, and then Rockliff plans to talk to Gov. Barbara Baker, so they have a few days to fix the issue.
If there is an election, it is difficult to see any major party approaching most seats. The recent ERMS poll received labor with 31% support, leading the Liberals, with their workforce just 29%. But 37% say they prefer others.
This is not a good sign for major parties, who have been struggling to grasp the reality of the ever-expanding 35 parliaments that no one can control. Liberals failed to maintain enough support from members of Congress. Labour has hardly achieved a relationship with the cross-Table.
Tasmanians may soon tell them that this is not good enough and try again.