Bass Liberal MHR Andrew Nikolic will not attend the Bass Candidates’ Debate, due to a party policy to only take part in two-party debates.

Tasmanian Liberal Party Director Sam McQuestin said Liberal candidates would only appear in head-to-head debates with Labor.

Labor candidate Ross Hart and the Greens’ Terrill Riley-Gibson have both agreed to appear in the debate. 

The forum, hosted by The Examiner and the Launceston Chamber of Commerce, will be held at the Country Club on Thursday from 6pm. 

The Liberal Party adopted the policy for the 2014 state election, but had previously entered candidates in The Examiner’s federal election forums in 2010 and 2013.

“The Liberal Party is not interested in debating other candidates who have no chance of winning and whose parties have no chance of forming the next government in their own right,” Mr McQuestin said.

“If there’s to be a real debate about the future of Bass and the other federal seats in Tasmania, make it a debate between the real contenders – Liberal and Labor – and disregard those who have no realistic chance of representing those electorates in Parliament.”

Mr Hart said he didn’t think the Liberal Party’s stance was acceptable in a democracy.

“There are a significant group of people in this community who will vote for people other than Labor or Liberal, I don’t understand why electors of Bass who go to the forum on Thursday night aren’t able to hear from Mr Nikolic or other people,” Mr Hart said.

“I think Bass is the poorer for the fact there is not going to be a debate that hears from Mr Nikolic and the Liberal Party about why Mr Nikolic should be elected. It’s not about Ross Hart vs Andrew Nikolic, it’s about voters being able to hear from both of us about who has got a plan for the future, and the views of Green voters are equally valid.”