Labor accused of 'tone-deaf' politics over no-confidence move

In an emotional social media post on Tuesday, abuse survivor Azra Lee-Beach said the timing of Labor's planned motion was "so wrong" because there were "so many people waiting" to see commission of inquiry recommendations implemented and the Paul Reynolds inquiry underway.

"But no .... state Labor just wants to play politics, it's so fu..cking tone-deaf, it's ridiculous," she said on a video message.

She said she and others with a past experience of abuse woke up every day with the hope that "something's going to change, that things are going to get better".

"But rather than trying to take on board what we say, they're too busy trying to point score or make a leadership grab."

Steve Fisher, chief executive officer of victim advocacy group Beyond Abuse, said he was "disappointed" with the Labor decision.

"I've had calls from from survivors who are really, really upset by this, asking why would the opposition do something like that, when this is such an important time in Tasmania's history," he said.

"We are sick to death of the parliament being bogged down in no confidence motions and stuff that's taking away from the time that could be spent on child protection and discussion on implementing recommendations."

Labor MLC Josh Willie confirmed this week that Labor would move the no-confidence motion when parliament resumes.

But opposition leader Rebecca White appeared to back down from that in comments on Wednesday morning.

She said she would support a Greens initiative to prioritise debate on the commission of inquiry bill on Tuesday morning if the government agreed to suspend standing orders, allowing debate of the bill as soon as it was tabled.

"I think all Tasmanians expect us to return to Parliament and get to work, which is why we offered a pair," Ms White said, referring to the offer to reduce Labor's vote in the chamber by one to compensate for the Liberals' missing numbers following Elise Archer's resignation.

"But ultimately, it's up to the government to agree to debate that legislation as a priority on Tuesday."

But she confirmed the plans to eventually test confidence in the government were still in place.

"We have an obligation to make sure that the parliament does maintain confidence in the Premier and to test that, and we will be doing that next week.

"This is a government that over the last couple of weeks has put Tasmania into a spin.

"Their uncertainty and chaos has created a dive and business confidence, it's really an amazing saga that they've created themselves, which has created a lack of confidence in this government right across the community.

"This doesn't mean that other business of the parliament can't be dealt with."

Leader of government business in the House of Assembly, Felix Ellis, described the planned motion as a "stunt".

"We are worried about wasting the time of the Tasmanian people, they elect politicians to go into parliament and pass laws that make the state a better place, they don't elect us to go in and debate stunts," he said.

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