Q&A: Dean Winter talks Greens, Bass election results and jobs

The Examiner editor Craig Thomson sat down with the Tasmanian Labor leader for a one-on-one chat and confirmed Mr Winter is not a big fan of TV presenter candidates, but he does believe he has a good idea what it will take to win an election.

Voters weren't angry with Labor, but their apathy towards its policy platform was a significant hurdle. How will you overcome this and secure the Labor Party a victory at the next election?

We need to be clear about what Labor stands for. Labor is the party of jobs. It's in our name, why we started, and why we're here.

And we need to be clear with Tasmanians that we support our traditional industries, that we do support mining, we support forestry.

We support agriculture, all of which are industries that Tasmanian Labor supports, as well as the future economy and energy. Energy is our big focus, and we think our future jobs could come from the energy sector.

Some Tasmanian union members actively support David O'Byrne's return behind the scenes. Out in the open, they did not support Rebecca White and Labor at the last election. How will you deal with them?

At the election, I saw our Labor Party members supporting Labor.

I think we were the most united we've been in a long, long, long time, and that was all around Rebecca. We ran a campaign that was ultimately unsuccessful, though. It wasn't because the candidates didn't try.

It wasn't because of the leader. It's something more fundamental. Tasmanians need to be reminded of what Labor stands for.

You keep losing elections, though?

We have lost four elections in a row, and I think it's time to go back to the drawing board. That's why I want to start right from the start.

Labor stands for jobs. And of course, there are other aspects too.

You can have better services from a strong economy and good jobs.

Tasmanians are hugely focused on healthcare, education, the cost of living, and housing. All of these things are important as well.

But it comes from an understanding that Labor supports regional Tasmanians. Jobs and traditional industries, and Labor is embracing new technology - a revival of our energy sector, which has been stagnant now for the last 10 years.

Let's swing back to the union question. You'll try to bring the entire Labor movement together, the unions back into the fold, and grassroots members, too. Many people I spoke with certainly perceived that the unions weren't actively helping the campaign and Labor candidates.

I disagree. I can honestly say I feel incredibly supported by our whole movement. Losing elections is a horrible thing, and we all want to get back into government. The only way we'll win elections again is with the support of our entire movement and working people. Working people, I know now, are broader and more diverse than ever before, though.

We need to connect with tradies and Tasmanians who have small businesses. Fifty or 60 years ago, you could go to big manufacturing plants and talk to Labor members, and that was what working people did in those days. It's more fragmented now; there are more small businesses, small contractors, and subcontractors. So, we must connect with them as well. It's clear that we haven't been winning that vote for a long time. That's why we've got to be talking about jobs and the economy, ensuring they've got the best opportunity in their lives to make money to support their families and buy and own their own homes.

That's where we've got to connect.

The poll numbers say that you can only form a government if you make deals with the minor parties. They have a healthy slice of the vote, along with the Greens, right now. Can you reiterate for our readers why Labor won't make deals with minor parties or the Greens?

As I have said, Labor is a party of jobs. We support traditional industries, such as agriculture, mining, forestry, and manufacturing, while the Greens oppose them. The Greens are opposed to aquaculture. The most successful industry in Tasmania in the last 30 years has been salmon.

They're opposed to it and want to shut it down. They're also opposed to native forestry. We support that, though, but the Greens want to shut it down. That's not a compatible relationship. The other thing about the Greens vote is that it is still very low - lower than it was in 2010. I don't think that Labor's future is with the Greens. Labor's future is governing in our own right and implementing Labor policies that support working Tasmanians. We said we wouldn't govern with them, and we kept our word; that's got to be worth something.

The Greens got five seats. Labor got 10. They are not that far behind you.

I've had several people say that to me since the election, and look, they did. They've now got five seats, so this is the Hare Clark system, sometimes with a one per cent swing and an increased size in parliament - that can happen. The unfortunate thing about an increase in size of parliament at the election for us is that we only added one extra member to our team. This was a huge opportunity for us to add a bunch of new people. Instead, we've only added one. We're very excited to have Meg Brown joining us. We would have liked a lot of Meg Browns of new talent coming to our team, but that's the reality of where we are. We need to accept that Tasmanians make the decisions, and they always make the right decisions. They made the right decision in this case and didn't think we were ready. We need to take that on the chin, and we need to change. We haven't won an election; we lost. We need to accept that we need to change. Our future is in reconnecting with working people and regional Tasmania.

Will there be any review of the loss, and will you follow any recommendations from the review?

Yeah, it hasn't commenced yet, but there will be one. There will also be an opportunity for us to meet with our members. We've got hundreds of Labor Party members right across the state. So, we will be going out across Tasmania, sitting down in forums and meetings, and conversing with our members about what they're hearing in their community.

I think the other component is, speaking with local government. I understand the value of talking to local government because they are the closest level to the people. It's a good place to start when you're reconnecting. And I think we need to get out to every region in Tasmania and listen to what people are saying about our future. I'm getting the message that people didn't know what we stood for and we need to be very clear about what we stand for.

Bass Labor members I spoke with were disappointed that the third and fourth candidates on the Labor ticket weren't pushed forward with Janie Finlay and Michelle O'Byrne at press conferences, policy announcements, and other similar events. They say there was a name recognition problem for undecided voters. We did vox pops, and people had no idea who your other Labor candidates were other than Janie and Michelle, but everybody knew who 'Fairsy' was. Why did that happen?

We had a really strong group of candidates. The criticism we got was that they weren't household names, and that's true. But over time, if you have good community candidates with solid work backgrounds you can build them up. I'm hoping those candidates will choose and want to run again.

With more time and experience on their side and more community campaigning, we'd love to put them into parliament. Sadly, we didn't.

The Liberals have got a pretty clear strategy of getting TV presenters into the parliament. Yes, they have big profiles, but I'd argue that grassroots community-level people have just as much to contribute to the Tasmanian Parliament. We'll keep running people from the community.

Will you be a policy-evidence-based opposition, or will you follow Tony Abbott/ Peter Dutton's example and oppose everything?

I love speaking positively, spruiking my community, and being excited about projects. While being in opposition means that the reality is you need to hold the government accountable, you do need to be negative sometimes. Other times, we have to have a vision, and I want to be clear about my vision for Tasmania. I want Tasmania to be the easiest place in Australia to do business and the best place to grow up to work and retire. That's what my vision is for Tasmania. We can balance that between making sure people know what a Labor government looks like and what it will stand for and holding the government accountable. And that's our job at this point. Being the leader of the opposition means that I have to hold the Premier to account for his promises. He's told Tasmanians he's going to ban ramping. It's going to be very difficult for him to do.

My job is to hold him accountable for that promise, put pressure on him to keep it and try to get him to deliver as much as possible for Tasmanians.

That's the system and I'll do that to the best of my ability. But I do accept we need to balance it with a positive vision for Tasmania.

There's bed block, which means that there are already too many patients waiting in our waiting rooms. They're spilling out into hallways and cupboards while waiting for treatment. Simply moving people out of ambulances into already crowded waiting rooms is not the best practice for patients. Maybe it solves a problem in terms of getting ambulances off the waiting bay, but it's no better for patients, and that's what it's all about. So it's clear we need to change how we're doing health.

We need to do more in the suburbs and towns of Tasmania to relieve the pressure on our hospitals. We need to work more closely with the Australian government to improve access to primary health in regional communities in the suburbs so that we don't put endless pressure on hospitals and so that people are not getting sicker until they get to the hospital.

You' are big on preventative health, correct?

Yes, let's deal with it even in participation in preventative health. We need to make it as easy as possible to provide the facilities for more people to participate in sports. We've got a huge demand, a massive influx of people wanting to play basketball and netball, but there are no facilities for them to play. Every time we do not allow people to participate in sports, that's completely the wrong message for people when it comes to preventative health. We want people to get active and healthy.

What makes you tick, and what do you want to bring to the role of Labor leader?

I'm a born and bred Tasmanian. I'm from the West Coast originally. I want to make Tasmania a better place. In terms of the opportunities that are in front of us, this is the best time in Tasmania's history. We have built, for 100 years, a renewable energy powerhouse here.

We have the expertise, the best water, and the best wind resources in Australia. We've got climate change, which means the whole of Australia wants renewable energy. If we grasp the opportunities in front of us now, that will drive our economy for the next 50 years. I've been in parliament only about three years, and I've seen us miss those opportunities. I want to be a Premier for Tasmania to drive our economy forward, take the opportunities presented to us, and create a better Tasmania where the best place in Australia to grow up to work and retire should be Tasmania.