Media Release: Call For Assembly to Introduce Fixed Four Year Terms
Call For Assembly to Introduce Fixed Four Year Terms
Wednesday, 23 July 2025
A courageous new parliament would move to provide parliamentary certainty for both the public and business communities by introducing fixed four year terms for the House of Assembly, according to Independent Member for Nelson, Meg Webb MLC.
“If there was ever a time to consider seriously reforming and modernising our Parliament by introducing fixed four year terms for the Lower House, it is now,” Ms Webb said.
“If both Labor and Liberal parties are genuine about seeking to inject stability into the new Parliament as their current rush to draft new protocols indicates, then there shouldn’t be any excuse to avoid introducing a mechanism which limits their ability to pull the plug and storm off to the Governor whenever it suits them.
“A courageous new parliament now has the opportunity to mitigate the disruptive impact of serial early elections by introducing fixed four year terms for the Tasmanian House of Assembly.
“Currently, Tasmania is the only state or territory jurisdiction without legislated fixed terms for the Lower House.
“However, Tasmania has flirted with this reform previously when it was introduced briefly by former Liberal Premier Ray Groom between 1992- to 1996.
“Both former Labor Premiers Paul Lennon and David Bartlett also proposed its introduction to minimise the political opportunism of governments of the day going to the polls at a time they believe most advantageous to their re-election chances.
“Sadly, the open exit door available to Premiers of the day has proved too convenient for both establishment parties.
“Fixed terms help remove the partisan advantage that government have in choosing an election date to advantage their own party political purposes from the timing of an election, and also help provide certainty for other parties and MPs, the private sector and the community.
“Importantly, fixed terms also improve access to the electoral role for first time voters.
“Fixed terms also have a role to play in reducing the negative impact of snap early state elections on both our democracy but also our financial position, a problematic ramification highlighted by Treasury’s Pre-Election Financial Outlook Report.
“Early elections pose serious fiscal ramifications by producing laundry lists of spending promises, disrupt any longer term management policies, and as highlighted by the current election disrupt budgetary processes.
Ms Webb clarified that models for fixed four year terms can still provide mechanisms by which early election can occur, but they must be for defensible reasons such as corruption or no confidence motions.
“Fixed Four Year terms would not necessarily have prevented this month’s early election as that was caused by the government losing the confidence of the House, but it may have prevented the previous two snap elections of 2021 and 2024 called by Premiers seeking to exploit their perceived positions of advantage.
“Tasmania has just been sent to its fourth state election in seven years. Fixed four year terms for the Assembly may have halved that number.
“Repeatedly storming off to the polls in search for an elusive majority when things get hard is irresponsible. We know there is hard work ahead with necessary budget repair , and we need to invest in ensuring the Parliament knows it must buckle down and deliver, rather than leave the eventual Premier an exit door they can exploit on whim,” Ms Webb said.
