Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens leader
This election is being bought, via millions of dollars flowing into the Liberal party from the gambling industry.
Our democracy is being corrupted and the Hodgman Liberals are a willing party to that.
The Liberals and the gambling industry are spending at an unprecedented level.
Our democracy, and this election, are being bought and sold right before our eyes. We've never seen anything like it.
Liberal faces adorn Federal and other gambling venues. They have been bought by the pokies barons.
The Liberals’ policy was originally to put the poker machine licenses out to tender.
The pokies barons then presented their individual license stitch-up to the Parliamentary inquiry, and Liberal policy changed shortly thereafter to what the industry wanted.
This policy backflip will deliver the industry a $250 million windfall after the election.
The pokies barons get $250 million, and the Liberals get the support and the rivers of dirty money. Dirty money that's made on human misery.
This river of dark money to the Liberals raises serious questions of corruption.
The Greens will not stand for this and will not sell Tasmania short. We have always fought corruption wherever we've found it.
If our politics are corrupt we all lose. Small business loses, investment drops, and people miss out. Democracy loses out, big time.
Our challenge to Will Hodgman and the Liberals today is to come clean - lay out your donations from here and from the mainland. Lay out the deal.
Open the books and be upfront with people. But in the absence of these details, we have to take a stand.
Whether it's a majority or a minority parliament, the Greens will move no confidence in the Liberals at the first opportunity on the first day.
We would not have confidence in a Liberal government that has been bought and paid for by the gambling industry, an undeserving Liberal government that would cause untold harm to our social fabric for a generation.
This is about much more than pokies. It’s about our democracy and Tasmania’s future wellbeing.
At the political level, the Greens have led the way to bring Tasmania’s economy into the 21st century. We advocated wilderness protection, tourism, sustainable agriculture, the clean, green brand and the creative economy while the old parties were stuck in the past.
These gains are too important for Tasmania for us to stand by and let this election be corrupted, and our economic transition threatened by cosy secret deals and donations.
We will not stand by and let big business fund the Liberals to buy this election.
We care too much for this island and its people to let that happen.