Dean Winter hopeful he will become Tasmanian premier, despite stalled negotiations with the Greens

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

Labor leader Dean Winter is still hopeful his bid to become Tasmania's premier will be successful, despite the Greens saying they cannot support a Labor government "at this stage" due to a lack of policy compromises.
A motion of no confidence in Premier Jeremy Rockliff's government, and confidence in a Labor minority government, will be moved when state parliament resumes on Tuesday, August 19.
Labor won 10 seats at last month's state election, meaning it needs the support of the five Greens MPs and three other crossbenchers to be successful.
Mr Winter said conversations with the crossbench MPs had been "mostly really positive", including at a meeting on Tuesday, that he claimed the Greens chose not to attend.
"They had accepted to come along to the meeting and then decided instead of participating they would go out and make a media statement instead," he said.
Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff said on Tuesday that Labor's lack of compromise on policy positions meant she could not support Mr Winter becoming premier "at this stage", following a second meeting in two days with the Labor leader.
Mr Winter defended his bargaining position, arguing this term of state parliament needed to work differently if it was to last the full four years after three consecutive early elections.
"If it's about horse trading at the start where we're giving away policy and we're asking them to compromise as well then it's not going to last very long," he said.
"This is much more serious than one or two policies early, it has to be about a lasting parliament.
Mr Winter has indicated he is open to discussing policy compromise once Labor has formed government — including on measures to protect the environment, which he said was "really important to me".
He committed to a "policy framework" that would see ideas from all members of parliament considered in detail.
Mr Winter also said all ideas to improve the state's budget position would be considered as part of the party's budget roundtable process, including ideas to generate additional revenue by increasing current taxes or imposing new ones.
But he has refused to agree to the Greens' demand that he provide concessions up front.
"I'd like to sit down and discuss where we can find common ground and there are areas around housing, around budget repair, around integrity where we can work together," Mr Winter said.
"But what Rosalie has effectively said, she's issued an ultimatum, unless we do X, Y and Z then it's a no, and I don't think issuing ultimatums is the way to work together and no-one else on the crossbench has done the ultimatum approach either.
"The conversations have been really positive with the independents and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, that's the kind of engagement I want to have.
A Greens spokesperson said the decision to not attend Tuesday's meeting with Labor and crossbench MPs was also agreed to by Mr Winter.
"It was jointly acknowledged that the conversation between Labor and the Greens had not progressed far enough," the spokesperson said.
"It's hardly good faith for Mr Winter to claim otherwise.
"The Greens' door is still open. We hope Labor comes back to the table to negotiate tangible outcomes for the people of Tasmania."