Greens celebrate swing, say they won't be two-seat party forever

As at 5.20pm on Sunday, there was a 1.7 per cent swing to the Greens across the state, with 16 per cent of the vote still to be counted. Meanwhile Labor suffered a 4.4 per cent swing against it and the Liberals a 1.2 per cent swing away from them.

The Greens' greatest gains were in Franklin (+4 per cent) and Lyons (+2.3 per cent). They'd received 12 per cent of the vote statewide, as at Sunday evening.

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While they didn't pick up a third seat, Greens leader Cassy O'Connor said she didn't believe the party would be stuck on two forever.

"We've shown in the past three years that we really are a very effective opposition party in raising the issues that matter to the people of Tasmania and holding government to account," she said. "Whether there is one Green in parliament, two, three, four or five - we're always in there, working hard, standing up for this beautiful island and its people."

"And we're very affirmed by a solid vote and a swing to us in the South of the state and a strong endorsement from the people of Clark and Franklin for having Greens in parliament."

In Bass, the party suffered a -0.7 per cent swing and Ms O'Connor said it would be "a pretty hefty hill" to climb for Greens candidate Jack Davenport to be elected to represent the Northern electorate.

Meanwhile, in Braddon, there was a 1.9 per cent swing to the Greens, with the party attracting 5.3 per cent of the vote. However, for the second election in a row, the Greens were outpolled by independent Craig Garland (6.1 per cent).

Political analyst Richard Herr said the Greens had benefited from voters fleeing from the major parties. "There was a defection to independents," Professor Herr said. "It shows that the Labor base has lost patience with the Labor Party, that's the problem."

"[The Greens] have reasons to be pleased that their base is solid and that it is renewing and so forth. And certainly this could provide a platform for the Greens to come back to the kind of high double-digit support they've had in the past across the state.

"But that's not guaranteed."

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