This is my guide for the May 4th election for the Legislative Council seat of Prosser. Prosser gets to go first because it has the most declared candidates! On Wednesday I released a brief survey of the Council's voting patterns. Links to other guides: Elwick Hobart . There will be live coverage on the night of May 4th.
At the start of this year the Legislative Council consisted of four Labor, four Liberal and seven independents, with three of the independents strongly left-leaning, one centrist, and three somewhat right-leaning albeit still left of the Liberal Party. Council voting has also seen a rapid increase in "Laborial" bipartisan voting patterns where the major parties combine against some or all of the indies. The 2024 Legislative Council elections follow hot on the heels of an extremely messy lower house election, and for the first time since 1909 three seats fall vacant on the same day. The three vacancies are one Labor, one Liberal and a left independent, so the elections are very important for both the left-right balance of the Council and the independent-major party balance.
Seat Profile
Prosser is a fairly large rural and satellite-town seat in the midlands, east and south-east of Tasmania (see map). Its largest population centres are Brighton, Dodges Ferry and Sorell (all in the south) and other significant centres include Bagdad, Bicheno, Campbell Town, Swansea, Triabunna, Nubeena and Oatlands. Industries include farming, fishing and what remains of forestry, but around Sorell there has been a rapid increase in young commuting families.
