The Tasmanian State Election 1996: Green Power and Hung Parliaments

As expected, the 1996 Tasmanian state election has delivered a hung Parliament. The incumbent Liberals retain government although now in minority. Labor is languishing in opposition, and will do so for as long as it refuses to deal with the Greens. The Greens have sustained a slight loss in support, but have achieved their goal of regaining the balance of power that they lost in 1991 after briefly supporting a Labor minority government. But the circumstances by which the Greens now hold the balance of power are significantly different than in 1989 - as is the margin by which they hold it. In 1989, there was a positive choice made by 17.1% of the state population, fuelled by the controversial Wesley Vale pulp mill dispute, to displace the incumbent government and to vote green. The ranks of the Green Independents in the 35-member House of Assembly swelled from two to five, causing the Liberals to lose office and the further erosion of Labor's already low support base.