Labor leader Dean Winter has rejected accusations he is a “privatisation advocate” after a decade-old radio interview resurfaced amid a heated debate over state-owned assets.
The 2015 interview, unearthed by the Liberal Party, featured Winter questioning Tasmania’s ownership of Entura and TasNetworks.
The comments stand in contrast to Labor’s current opposition to the Liberal government’s proposed sell-off plan, which could privatise multiple government-owned businesses except Hydro.
“We are not in the space anymore, at least during this election cycle, where we can actually talk about what assets Tasmania should own,” Winter said in the 2015 interview.
Will the real Dean Winter please stand up? #politas pic.twitter.com/hfDIPHEOyg
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“There is a whole bunch of areas including Entura but there is also, for example, TasNetworks.”
Liberal MP Felix Ellis claimed Winter has made contradictory statements about asset privatisation “for the better part of a decade” while “secretly” favouring sales.
Ellis described Winter’s leadership as “mortally wounded”.
“Today it’s clear that this is the beginning of the end of Dean Winter’s leadership of the Labor Party,” Ellis said.
“We are seeing far too much deception and lies from the Leader of the Opposition when it comes to privatisation and for a bloke that is actually on the record in support of it.”
“Tasmanians will be asking themselves seriously, where does this guy stand?”
Winter dismissed the attack as political opportunism from a government under pressure.
“My position remains the same in that we do not support the privatisation of these assets,” he said.
“Tasmanians do not want to see their assets sold off by the Liberals because they broke the budget.”
“Tasmanians understand that it’s been businesses like Hydro, like Aurora, TasNetworks that have been delivering dividends back into the Tasmanian budget to help pay for our schools and hospitals.”
