Voters in the marginal seat of Bass in Tasmania’s north east have seen six of its past seven MPs serve for one term only.
Current Liberal MP Andrew Nikolic hopes to put an end to this by surviving another election with his party holding a four per cent margin.
“This is a tough seat and I’ve been working hard for three years to demonstrate to the local people that I deserve a chance to continue with the work that I’ve done,” Mr Nikolic said.
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Tasmania no longer languishes at the bottom of the unemployment figures, having fallen below seven per cent after nearing nine per cent when he was voted in, he said.
But Labor and the Greens's candidates are critical of his approach of representing constituents.
Labor’s Ross Hart said Mr Nikolic works hard for the electorate but doesn’t appear to be representing people there who are disadvantaged by the decisions the government has taken, describing it as out of touch.
“I was knocking on doors and there was palpable anger about the fact that tax cuts were made available to people earning over $80,000 where in this electorate, two thirds of people earn $36,000 or less,” he said.
The Greens’ Terill Riley-Gibson said residents are sick of having, “patronising arrogant government who are really just trying to take money from them”.
“I think people have really just had enough,” she said.
People on the streets of Launceston, the heart of Bass, have spoken about jobs, closing businesses and poorer health and education outcomes as some issues important to them.
SBS’s Senior Political Correspondent Daniela Ritorto has spent the week in Tasmania and was at Launceston in the marginal seat of Bass.
