Tasmania Labor elect new leader in Josh Willie after Dean Winter's disastrous no confidence challenge fails

Sky News AU

10 hours ago

The Tasmanian Labor Party have elected a new leader after former opposition leader Dean Winter's disastrous no confidence challenge failed to oust Premier Jeremy Rockliff from the state's top job.
Tasmania's three-month-long political quagmire was finally resolved on Tuesday after Labor's no-confidence motion against Premier Rockliff was resoundingly defeated in the lower house.
A band of progressive independents and the Greens joined forces with the Liberal Party to vote down the proposal, in a vote that resulted in 24 against the motion, with 10 for. Crossbenchers scorned Mr Winter for refusing to compromise on numerous issues.
The decision means that Labor has formally lost the election.
On Wednesday, former Labor leader Dean Winter released a statement congratulating the new party leader Josh Willie.
"I congratulate Josh Willie on being elected Leader of the Tasmanian Labor Party," Mr Winter wrote.
"As Leader, I take full responsibility for our election result, and it is understandable that Labor has a new leader moving forward. Leading the Labor Party has been the honour of my life."
Mr Winter said while the election did not convert into a desired result he would continue to serve as a Labor member and, in a slight against Mr Rockliff, vowed to continue his "fight" for Tasmanian workers.
"I will never resile from standing strong and true to my word, especially when it comes to Tasmanian workers and traditional industries, including salmon workers and the racing community I care deeply about," he said.
"I knew if I sold out the workers, like Jeremy Rockliff has, I could have been Premier. I could never do that ... I will continue to serve as a Labor Member for Franklin in Parliament, and to fight for those workers who the Premier has callously abandoned in his clutch for power."
Mr Winter has accused Mr Rockliff of being a sellout and called out the Premier for caving in to demands from the Greens.
'He will have the stigma of being a sellout, of giving in to Green demands on racing, salmon and forestry – selling out people who backed him for 20 years, no one can ever trust you again,' Mr Winter said.
In his own statement, Mr Willie said it was a "great honour" to be elected Tasmania's Labor Leader and thanked his predecessor for his service.
"He's a proud Tasmanian with strong Labor values and he'll continue to work to make Tasmania a better place," he said in a statement.
Labor's no-confidence motion loss was an embarrassing defeat for the now-former Opposition Leader, who repeatedly refused to negotiate with the crossbench on a range of issues.
Labor backbenchers have told Sky News Mr Willie may be able to effectively negotiate with the Greens and progressive crossbenchers.