Ex-Braddon Labor MHR Justine Keay said she was optimistic Labor could increase its representation in the North-West and West Coast seat from two to three at the May 1 state election.

That would potentially go a long way to denying the Liberals a statewide majority.

"We've got to do better than what we've got in terms of representation from the Liberal side," Ms Keay said.

"There's talk the Deputy Premier (Jeremy Rockliff) is not going to last the next term.

"I honestly believe we could win three seats in Braddon because we need change."

Asked if she would bring a personal vote to the Labor tally, Ms Keay said she was very humbled by comments from "random people" after she lost the federal seat in the 2019 election.

"They were lovely, inspiring comments, so I'm hoping people will recognise the type of politician I was, very much grassroots ... out meeting people in their communities, their homes and their lives," she said.

Ms Keay said she campaigned hard as a federal MP on skills and jobs, and those issues had inspired her to return to politics.

She was critical of the Liberal plan to make TasTAFE a government business enterprise.

She said that would mean it would be run to make a profit, and predicted that would lead to less accessibility and fee and cost increases which would price out some students and businesses which wanted to upskill workers.

"Something I'm really keen to keep fighting for is better TAFE access," Ms Keay said.

She said skills shortages and a lack of apprentices remained big issues in the region.

She said she would also campaign strongly on health, saying she had a strong record of "dragging the Liberals to stop their cuts and invest in these areas".

Half-way through a psychology honours degree, Ms Keay said the region had a severe shortage of mental health specialists and clinicians and she would push for more mental health support.

Braddon Liberal MHA Felix Ellis recently pointed to a 2015 Tweet from Labor Shadow Health Minister Bastian Seidel in which he said the state had too many hospitals and another in 2016 which linked to commentary saying the Mersey Community Hospital should never have been built

Ms Keay said the Mersey would be "absolutely" safe under Labor, and she had always fully supported it.

"I think the Mersey has an important role to play in health delivery in this region," she said.

"The hospitals need to work not as silos, but within an integrated health system."

Labor named just three of its five Braddon candidates at its candidate announcement on March 29, and it is only now the fifth (Ms Keay) has been confirmed.

he delays led to much scoffing from the Liberals.

"Labor's preselections have been a shambles," Liberal campaign spokesperson Michael Ferguson said.

"It's no wonder they're down to the wire on deadlines for candidates.

"If Labor can't run their own preselections, how can they run the state?"

Nominations for the election close at noon on Wednesday and all candidates will be formally announced at noon on Thursday.

Mr Rockliff recently committed to serving a full term if he was re-elected.

Former Liberal premier Will Hodgman at least twice denied rumours he would resign from parliament, shortly before doing just that in January 2020.

Labor's other four Braddon candidates are incumbent MHAs Anita Dow and Shane Broad, Devonport-based teacher Michelle Rippon and Central Coast Councillor Amanda Diprose.

A former Devonport councillor, Ms Keay ran unsuccessfully for Labor in Braddon in the 2014 state election.

She won the federal seat in 2016, but resigned in 2018 as one of the MPs caught up in the dual citizenship saga.

She regained it in a by-election that year, then lost it to Liberal Gavin Pearce in the 2019 federal election.

Braddon chose three Liberal and two Labor MPs in the 2018 election.