Tasmanian Labor in disarray after no confidence vote's spectacular failure as left faction endorses ex shadow treasurer Josh Willie

Sky News AU

18 hours ago

Tasmania's leadership hangs in the balance as Labor's left faction endorses former shadow treasurer Josh Willie for the leadership after a no-confidence vote against the Liberal government was rejected.
Tasmania's three-month-long political quagmire was finally resolved on Tuesday after Labor's no-confidence motion against Premier Jeremy 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 by 24 – 10 votes, with crossbenchers scorning Mr Winter for refusing to compromise on numerous issues.
Independent MP Peter George said he had 'never come across an Opposition party less ready for government', while Tasmanian Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff said Mr Winter showed 'no capacity or intention to negotiate in good faith'.
With Parliament now certifying Labor's election defeat, the Tasmanian Labor Party is congregating on Wednesday to receive nominations for leadership.
Both leadership positions will automatically be declared vacant, with multiple nominations resulting in a statewide ballot being held.
Sky News has been told by a Labor Party source that former shadow treasurer Josh Willie was endorsed by the dominant left faction for the position of leader.
A full caucus meeting is now underway.
It is unclear if the right faction will nominate a candidate, with Mr Winter considered the most likely choice if the party seeks to pursue a two-horse race.
Mr Winter, who led Labor to its worst election result ever at the July 19 poll, is yet to reveal whether he will pursue leadership.
Mr Willie is the ex-shadow treasurer and sits ideologically in the centre of the Labor Party.
Labor backbenchers have told Sky News Mr Willie may be able to effectively negotiate with the Greens and progressive crossbenchers.
The left faction is considering replacing Mr Winter with either Mr Willie or Ella Haddad.
Lyons MP Brian Mitchell refused to say who he would be voting for when arrived at state Parliament House and said the party would be 'going through our processes today".
"We'll make those decisions in the caucus room," Mr Mitchell told the ABC.
Labor's no-confidence motion loss was an embarrassing defeat for the Opposition leader, who repeatedly refused to negotiate with the crossbench on a range of issues.
Premier Rockliff made a number of concessions to progressive independents, including introducing a ban on greyhound racing, scaling back native forest logging and promising to conduct an independent review into the state's salmon farms.
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.