Premier Jeremy Rockliff announcing his decision to go to an early election.

Transcript

00:00 for my government to be held for ransom for the next 12 months, it's bad for Tasmania

00:07 and it's bad for Tasmanians. So I've taken the decision to call an election so that Tasmanians

00:16 can have their say. Tasmania has come a long way over the last 10 years under majority

00:26 Liberal government, led by Will Hodgman, Penny Gutwin, myself and our team. Under our plan

00:35 we have gone from the worst performing state to the best performing state on most economic

00:42 measures. We have delivered historically low unemployment and 53,000 new jobs have been

00:52 created. Construction of the new Bridgewater Bridge is underway and the first of two new

00:59 Spirits of Tasmania ferries will soon sail into Devonport. And we've done all this and

01:06 much more while maintaining the lowest debt of all the states and without introducing

01:13 any new taxes. But I understand that, like the rest of Australia, we are facing some

01:22 serious challenges right now. We've delivered an additional 298 hospital beds. We've employed

01:33 an extra 2,500 frontline health professionals, including 1,390 nurses. But there's more work

01:44 to do with our health system and we can do better. Our energy prices are already the

01:53 lowest in the country and our renewable energy dividend is driving bills lower. But I know

02:00 that we need to do more to support those struggling with the coronavirus.