Tasmanian Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff says her party cannot support Labor’s attempt to make Dean Winter premier.
Labor needs the support of all five Greens MPs plus three crossbenchers when parliament resumes next Tuesday to successfully remove Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff.
Following an hour-and-20-minute meeting with Winter on Tuesday morning, Woodruff said the Labor leader had shown “no capacity or intention to negotiate in serious good faith”.
“At this stage we cannot have any confidence in the proposed motion to make Dean Winter the premier of Tasmania in parliament next week,” she said.
Woodruff accused Labor of “acting like they get 100% of their vote” at the recent election, while the Greens and progressive independents collectively received 23.5%.
She said Winter had refused to discuss policy compromises on the stadium, environmental protections, native forest logging and budget repairs to fund health and housing.
“We expect to have policy compromises on the issues we fought for… We haven’t heard any movement on this from Dean Winter,” she said.
When asked directly about Labor’s proposed motion of no-confidence in Rockliff and confidence in Winter, Woodruff confirmed: “At this stage we would not support that motion.”
The Greens leader left the door open for future talks, saying it was “up to them to step up” but warned “time’s running out” with parliament resuming in a week.
She suggested Labor should consider whether Winter was “the right leader for Labor at the moment given the current parliament make-up”, adding the Greens would support talking to “somebody who’s prepared to negotiate”.
Woodruff said the Greens would work with whoever formed a minority government but expected genuine policy movement.
“The door is definitely open for the Greens to have conversations about the changes that we’re fighting for,” she said.
