Roll up, roll up and see the amazing policy flipping acrobats

If Tasmanian politics were a circus, the tent would be full, the popcorn stale, and the acrobats in danger of tying themselves in knots. The clowns are running around pointing fingers at each other.

The ringmaster is of course Jeremy Rockliff. The Premier has now executed so many backflips on policy he could qualify for the Olympic gymnastics team (editor’s note, please don’t literally try this, Jeremy).

Just days before facing a no-confidence motion, he put the brakes on new salmon farm leases, an industry he once championed as the bedrock of our economy. He also pledged to review the state’s forestry policy and even banning greyhound racing. There’s a letter to the head of greyhounds from him back in June saying “your future is safe with me”!

For a party that once claimed to be the undisputed champion of salmon and forestry, this isn’t just a pivot; it’s an outright pirouette. The Liberals are turning greener by the day, not out of conviction, but out of sheer survival instinct.

And then there’s Dean Winter. Labor’s would-be Premier, armed with a “collaboration document” he’s circulating like a high-school group project. The pitch? Join me, colleagues, and together we can make this work. The problem? Half the class has already walked out, including former head boy David O’Byrne.

The Greens, who he spent the election campaign vowing not to “do a deal with,” have packed up their pencils, refusing to support his bid for leadership. 

Independents like Craig Garland and Peter George have also made their stances clear. Winter’s looking more like a prefect without a class than a leader in waiting.

Meanwhile, Rockliff’s makeover is reaching new shades of green. If clinging to power means abandoning salmon farms, forestry, and whatever else was once “non-negotiable,” then so be it. The government’s new, progressive platform feels like a list of demands handed to them by the very crossbenchers they need to win over. Who needs a platform when you’ve got a balancing pole?

It’s madness. Not the productive kind, not the bold reformist kind, but the frantic scramble of two parties who promised Tasmanians stability and are now trading it for expediency.

The real tragedy is that while they pirouette for power, ordinary Tasmanians are left watching the circus, wondering when someone will start governing instead of juggling.

The problems remain. Not just the debt. Tasmania has the worst education and health systems, we’re getting older and we don’t have enough houses. And productivity is low.

Banning greyhound racing is probably the right thing to do, but does it put dinner on the table or make up for a failing health service?

Meanwhile, the circus tent is filling up ready for tomorrow’s performance at parliament in Hobart.