Opposition leader Bill Shorten visited Launceston for a victory lap on Wednesday but gave little indication of what would happen to the pre-election promises Labor made to Tasmanians if the Coalition achieves majority government.
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Labor snagged four of the state’s five House of Representative seats in Saturday’s election with Bass recording a 10.5 per cent swing in Ross Hart’s favour. Three of those seats were formerly held by the Liberal party.
Mr Shorten said he was visiting the North to thank Tasmanians for the vote of confidence they’d given his party.
“Tasmanians reflect a whole degree of dissatisfaction across Australia with politics as usual, and they responded well to my hard-working candidates’ propositions around properly funding schools, defending Medicare, real action on Australian jobs, making sure that we have renewable energy as part of our policies on climate change,” he said.
With the Coalition looking a chance to win majority government, it will likely be a battle for incoming Braddon Labor MHR Justine Keay, Lyons Labor MHR Brian Mitchell and Mr Hart to deliver on Labor’s funding commitments.
But when asked if Tasmanians should wave those promises goodbye, Mr Shorten replied: “Not at all. Labor will keep pushing for our policies. I have to say, I don’t think Mr Turnbull’s got a mandate for very much at all, has he?”
Mr Shorten also disputed that Labor had run a dirty campaign.
The Coalition and its supporters have derided what has been dubbed ‘Mediscare’, the opposition’s campaign against the privatisation of Medicare, and pointed the finger at lobby group GetUp! for its loss.
“Labor won these three seats in Tasmania because we’re actually willing to stand up for Tasmanians and not be a rubber stamp for Canberra,” Mr Shorten said.
“My candidates couldn’t have worked any harder than they did.
“We have a positive platform we will take to the 45th Parliament and win, lose or draw, we’re going to stand for our values and our people.”