Bridging the great divide

Why Interlaken should be Tasmania’s ‘Canberra‘

Tasmanians can’t agree on much.

North hates the South. Launceston rolls its eyes at Hobart. Hobart barely knows Devonport exists. And Burnie? Burnie’s just tired of being asked to merge with anyone.

From footy teams to hospital locations to who gets a basketball licence, we turn everything into a turf war. We are the kings and queens of parochialism. The State of Disagreement.

So, here’s a thought: if we can’t agree on where decisions should be made, why not start again.

Let’s build Interlaken, population 24 and a couple of echidnas, into Tasmania’s own neutral capital. Our very own Canberra. A government centre not beholden to North or South, but set smack bang in the middle of the state. A new place where no one’s the boss, and no one has home-court advantage.

Why Interlaken?

Because it’s in the middle. Literally. That’s the point.

• It’s 90 minutes from Launceston and 2 hours from Hobart.
• No local MP to protect.
• No ego to inflate.
• No existing infrastructure to argue over, because there isn’t any.

Start with a blank canvas. Purpose, built for politics, planning, and actually getting things done. No more decisions made in South Hobart cafés while the rest of the state reads about it two weeks later.

Canberra did it. So can we.

When Australia’s founding states couldn’t agree on whether Melbourne or Sydney should be the capital, they chose a sheep paddock and built a city from scratch. Now it’s home to Parliament, the High Court, and Questacon (which makes up for everything else).

If Australia needed a fresh start to function, maybe Tasmania does too.

We’re not saying move the whole government. But if you put Parliament, the Public Service, and decision-making out of the current echo chambers and into the heart of the island, maybe we’d all be forced to think a little bigger.

A symbol of a new Tasmania

A new capital is a statement. It says: “We’re one Tasmania.”
Not five regions fighting over scraps. Not 29 councils squabbling over who empties which bin. One united, functional, forward-looking state.

And it might just reset the tone.

• Want to be a neutral arbitrator? Move to Interlaken.
• Want decisions made in the open, away from entrenched interests? Interlaken.
• Want a place where North, South, East, and West meet with no baggage? Interlaken.
• Best place to have a stadium. Interlaken.
• UTAS wants to leave Sandy Bay? Build a campus in Interlaken.
• New prison? Interlaken.
• New teaching hospital? Interlaken.

Sound crazy?

So did the idea of building Canberra in a cow paddock. Now it’s got a light rail and the best laksa in the country.

This isn’t about escaping Hobart or replacing Launceston. It’s about rebalancing the way we govern. And maybe, just maybe, giving Tasmania the clean break it needs to stop bickering and start building.