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Tasmanian Election 2006

All the Sitting Members Returned in Tasmania

Wednesday, 29th March, 2006 - At the Tasmanian election 10 days ago there were 95 candidates standing for the total of 25 seats in the five electorates. Of that number, 23 were members of the previous House of Assembly, one a previous member of the Federal Parliament along with 71 hopefuls. At the close of counting yesterday, all the retiring members were re-elected along with the former Federal member. Only one newcomer made it. more

Political Involvement With a Bottle of Scotch but Without Voting

Friday, 24th March, 2006

The Exclusive Brethren crossed my path through marriage - father-in-law had been brought up as one before leaving because he liked playing sport - a banned past time for Brethren. While he never mentioned the subject, his daughters occasionally spoke of their rather strange cousins, uncles and aunts who lived nearby in north west Tasmania but who they rarely met. more

Good Result for Pollsters in SA and Tasmania

Tuesday, 21st March, 2006 - The pollsters should be happy with their performance in predicting the result of the two state elections held on Saturday. more

Polling Day is 18 March

Tuesday, 21st February, 2006 - The last Labor Party Premier who I remember going to the polls earlier than he had to because he wanted to have a majority in his own right was Des Corcoran in South Australia and he ended up losing. Tasmania Paul Lennon does not strike me as much of an historian although he has made clear his desire to stop being seen as a "caretaker Premier because I know I have not been elected ". Hence the decision to go to the polls on 18 March when he could have waited until September. more

The Mayor Daley Approach to Conflict of Interest

Tuesday, 15th February, 2006 - In politics, more often that not, it is the cover up that gets people in to trouble not the incident itself. Which is why I remember with admiration the response of Mayor Richard Daley (the father not the current son) when a pesky journalist was impertinent enough to suggest impropriety at a rare Mayoral press conference held on the eve of an election. What, the journalist demanded, did the Mayor think about the insurance company that his son had just started working for being awarded a large slice of the city's insurance business without tenders being called. more

Corruption Allegations a Proven Vote Winner

Thursday, 12th January, 2006 - If the state's political history is anything to go by, then Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon has pulled off an electoral master stroke by being accused of conflicts of interest in accepting the hospitality of Crown Casino when on a visit to the last Melbourne Cup.

A commentary on the 2006 Tasmanian election written while the campaign was in progress is available at the Owl's