Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – Honourable Speaker, I seek leave to move –
That so much of the Standing Orders be suspended to debate the following motion –
That the House has no confidence in the Premier for the following reasons:
- In September 2022, his government announced a policy for a mandatory pre‑commitment card to reduce the harm caused by electronic gaming machines.
- During the 2024 election campaign, the Liberals put out a vague, dishonest media release which appeared on its surface to reflect their 2022 policy.
- Meanwhile, the Premier made a promise to the Tasmanian Hospitality Association that a re-elected Rockliff government would walk away from the policy.
- The Premier sold out the Liberals policy to the gaming lobby and deliberately lied to Tasmanians about it during an election.
- During budget Estimates this year, the Minister for Finance, Nic Street, was unaware his Premier intended to back away from his policy.
- It appears on the evidence that the Premier lied to his former Minister of Finance as well.
- The Premier is a liar who cannot be trusted by his own party room and Cabinet, the parliament or the people of Tasmania
- The only people who can trust the Premier’s word are the gambling lobby.
Leave granted.
Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens)(by leave) – Honourable Speaker, I move-
That so much of the Standing Orders be suspended as would prevent such a motion from being dealt with forthwith.
The argument I present is the media release that was announced today which makes it crystal clear to Tasmanians that the Premier has walked away from his commitment to Tasmanians. This is an incredibly urgent issue for the parliament to debate because it shows that the Premier has been deeply dishonest, has misled, has tricked and, in fact, has lied to Tasmanians on repeated questions that have been put to him about whether his government would continue the commitment to a mandatory pre-commitment card.
During the election campaign, the Premier promised the THA (Tasmanian Hospitality Association) that he would ditch reforms, but he did not tell Tasmanians. On 16 February, the Liberals and the Premier, through a media release, announced their policy restating their support for the mandatory pre-commitment card. We know from the Premier’s own words to the media that he said on camera that he was still committed to introducing, as promised, nation-leading reforms for mandatory pre-commitment cards. He did that knowing that is what the people of Tasmania wanted to hear and knowing that is what people expected him to say, because that was a promise that had been made and legislation had been passed and the work was heading in that direction.
Since then, under repeated questions in parliament by the Greens and other independent members, the Premier has refused to answer repeated questions about where the government stands. He also, during and around the Estimates process, refused to answer questions about the fact that he was, in the background, walking away from that commitment.
The Greens, independent members of parliament and people in the community have been concerned since the state election that the Premier was walking his party away from that commitment. We see today that he has abandoned the policy. To be clear, an indefinite delay ‑ which is what the media release says today – is in fact an abandonment of the policy.
What we have now is a minister and premier of Tasmania who cannot be trusted. This is at the heart of the failure of him as a man, but also a failure of him as a leader of the Liberal Party and as a leader of the people of Tasmania to walk back on a promise that was so critical.
We have had repeated calls for him to be honest with Tasmanians about what he is doing, not just from the Greens and other members of parliament, but from people in the community. The Alliance for Gambling Reform wrote to the Premier on 13 November; they knew what was happening.
The SPEAKER – I draw the member to the Suspension of Standing Orders request which she is making now, not the substantive debate.
Dr WOODRUFF – Thank you, and there is a substantive debate to be had here and it goes to decades of the Liberal and Labor parties in Tasmania being bought lock, stock and barrel by the pokies industry. What we have here is evidence of that writ large. We cannot have another day where this Premier continues to lie to Tasmanians. He lies to them. We asked four straight questions this morning and he would not even be honest right now that he is abandoning the pre-commitment card. If you cannot have a premier who is honest with Tasmanians, then it is time for him to go. We have no confidence in him taking that role any longer and neither do the people of Tasmania.
It is not only the damage he is doing to people from the gambling harm that will continue because of the Liberals abandoning the policy; it is the damage he is doing to our democracy. It is the damage he is doing when he continually says, ‘I am a person with heart, look at my track record’. The legacy of the man will be in his actions today. That is why he has to be held to account. It is not good enough to say you have a heart when you are lying to people, deceiving them, being treacherous, being sneaky and refusing to say what is going on, refusing to say where the money is flowing, refusing to say how the pokies are controlling you lock, stock and barrel. We have no confidence in him.
Time expired.
