What happened in the Tasmanian election

Hardly anyone in Tasmania knows what else it is that the Greens really stand for, other than a commendable condemnation of the federal government's inhumanity towards asylum seekers and a ban on genetically modified crops. So despite the euphoria of the election result the Greens might find life a lot tougher over the next four years, particularly if the Liberals and the ALP are to seriously seek to end the impasse over logging old growth forests and the State's over-reliance on woodchips as exports.

And finally, the Democrats. This election for the Democrats was about putting a stake in the ground. From 1982 to 1996 the Democrats had State or federal representation in Tasmania but with the loss of Robert Bell's Senate seat in 1996 the Party has ceded a deal of ground to the Greens. In this election the Democrats ran only 8 candidates in two electorates and look like increasing their vote from 0.89 percent in the 1998 election to 2 percent this time around. In two years time there will be an opportunity for the Democrats to take a Senate seat. Long time Independent Brian Harradine will be gone, and Independent Shayne Murphy will be up for re-election. And based on the Liberals' current state of ill-health it is not beyond the realms of possibility that one of their Senate seats will be vulnerable.

For the Democrats the next two years will be crucial - they have to be seen to be active in the Tasmanian community and to be about resolving issues and not simply sloganeering to try and out-green the Greens. The federal Party must involve itself heavily in rebuilding the profile of a Party that stands a good chance of attracting the social democratic and small l Liberal vote that in this State election went to the Greens in the absence of an alternative.

Tasmanian elections throw up quirky results but this election was not one of those occasions. Labor's professionalism, salesmanship and attraction of high profile community candidates such as the former Miss Australia Kathryn Hay in Bass, meant that it was never in doubt that it would win this election. But the Liberal's ineptitude made it a whole lot easier. There are now three viable alternatives to Labor over the next four years - Liberals, Greens and Democrats, but each has a hard road to tread.