Welcome to the Tally Room guide to the next Tasmanian state election. This guide includes comprehensive coverage of each electorate’s history, geography, political situation and results of the 2024 election, as well as maps and tables showing those results.
The next election is due to be held by early 2028, but is expected to be called very soon after a motion of no confidence was passed in the Rockliff government on Thursday June 5.
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Table of contents:
House of Assembly
Five electorates are used to elect Tasmania’s House of Assembly. Tasmania’s five electorates follow the same boundaries and have the same names as Tasmania’s five federal electorates. Click through to read detailed profiles of each electorate.
- Bass – North-eastern Tasmania, including Launceston. Elected 3 Liberals, 2 Labor, 1 Green and 1 JLN (now an independent) in 2024.
- Braddon – North-western Tasmania, including Devonport and Burnie, as well as the West Coast of Tasmania. Elected 3 Liberals, 2 Labor, 1 JLN (now an independent) and independent Craig Garland in 2024.
- Clark – Hobart. Elected 2 Liberals, 2 Labor, 2 Greens and independent Kristie Johnston in 2024.
- Franklin – Southern Tasmania, including Clarence, and Huon Valley. Elected 3 Liberals, 2 Labor, 1 Green and independent David O’Byrne in 2024.
- Lyons – Central Tasmania. Elected 3 Liberals, 2 Labor, 1 Green and 1 JLN in 2024.
Electoral system
Tasmania uses a system of preferential proportional representation known as Hare-Clark to elect the lower house, also called the House of Assembly.
Each electorate elects seven MPs. The quota is 12.5% of the vote in each electorate. Each electorate was represented five members each from 1998 until 2021, but the parliament was expanded in 2024.
In addition to using proportional representation, Tasmania uses the system of Robson Rotation. Under this system, party’s nominate a slate of candidates, but they are not listed on the ballot paper in a set party order. Instead, different ballot papers have candidates listed within their party column in different orders. This removes the power of the party machine to direct their supporters to vote for particular candidate.
Individual candidates from each party will compete against each other and it is possible for MPs from one party to be defeated by another member of their own party. This also means that personal votes for candidates matter a great deal. Prominent MPs such as party leaders often top the polls in their electorate, and their surplus can carry across other members of their party.
Tasmania also uses a system of ‘countback’ to fill vacancies in the House of Assembly. By-elections would not work in a multi-member electorate system, since all voters would get to have a say in electing a replacement for an MP who had only been elected by one portion of the electorate. Instead of using the Senate system of allowing parties to appoint replacements, countback involves re-examining the ballot papers to determine which candidate wins an election with the resigning MP removed.
This system has resulted in the election of a candidate from the same party as the former MP in all but one case. The only exceptions took place in 1961 and 1982. In both cases, the retiring MP was from outside the main parties – independent MP Reg Turnbull in 1961 was replaced by a Labor candidate, and Democrats MP Norm Sanders in 1982 was replaced by independent Greens candidate Bob Brown.
Tasmania’s Legislative Council is not usually elected at the same time as the House of Assembly. The Council is elected by fifteen single-member electorates using different boundaries to those used for the House of Assembly. MLCs serve six-year-terms, with two or three electorates going to the polls in May every year. Almost half of MLCs are independents, although the major parties now hold a majority of seats between them. Legislative Council elections are usually held annually in the first week of May, but the 2025 elections were postponed until later in May due to the federal election.
Contact
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