Franklin independent Peter George has confirmed he will not contest the next Tasmanian state election, saying his goal is to plant seeds in a single four-year term.
The former foreign correspondent, who stormed into state parliament in July 2025 with the highest primary vote in Franklin, made the comments on the Poll Position podcast.
“I’m in a hurry. I’m old,” George said. “This is a fabulous state. It’s got great potential.”
George, 74, said he hoped to demonstrate that minority government works and that independents are good for democracy.
“If I can ever look back and think that this has been a success, I will have planted some seeds which will grow after I’ve left here and probably once I’m in my grave,” he said.
“That’s a huge ambition for four years. That’s why I feel like I’m in a hurry.”
George also used the interview to call on the state government to break its election promise of no new taxes in next month’s state budget.
He said Treasury officials had warned the multi-partisan budget panel the state was facing a “fiscal cliff”.
“Common sense says we need to raise revenue,” he said.
George wants a Norway-style resource rental on the salmon industry, which he said would deliver about $200 million a year.
George also revealed tensions with Labor after refusing to back the party, which subsequently led to Liberal MP Eric Abetz being named treasurer.
“The Labor Party, up until quite recently, had said to me … don’t expect any collaboration, at least until the budget,” he said.
“We’re going to, I think they said, hang you out to dry for putting Eric Abetz in the treasurer’s seat.”
“And I said, well, that’s like bully boy tactics in the schoolyard.”
George said his priorities for the term remained education, health and housing.
“If you haven’t got good education, good health and roofs over people’s head, you do not have a healthy state,” he said.
The state budget is due in May.
