Reports in today’s Australian newspaper suggest that Rebecca White’s “Bec-flip” on Labor’s Franklin pre-selection brawl has put real pressure on her leadership.*

The fact that the bitter factional brawl has raised leadership questions during an election campaign shows how deeply Labor’s divisions run.

It is extraordinary there is talk of changing leaders during an election campaign.

The successful ambush by the Right against Ms White’s dominant Left factional allies has clearly ignited a civil war within the Labor Party and amongst its candidates.

This worsened overnight when Labor’s Franklin candidate Fabiano Cangelosi denounced his own party’s policies on poker machines and protest laws, saying he is determined to “eradicate both of them”.**

Tasmania needs a strong, stable majority Government, not a political party that is clearly so bitterly divided it is contemplating sacking its own Leader.

If you can’t run your own party, you can’t run the state. Only a majority Gutwein Liberal Government has a clear plan to secure Tasmania’s future.

*”She [Ms White] appears to be gambling that there can be no move against her leadership ahead of the May 1 poll” – The Australian, 7th April 2021.

**The Examiner 7th April 2021