Newsroom

6 April 2022
Tassie upper house polls in 3 seats on 7 May

The Tasmanian upper house elections are set for Saturday 7 May and are likely to be drowned out by the federal election but it’s important we keep bikes on local political agendas.

As such, we’ve sent our Safer Cycling Pledge to all the known candidates to date (the cut-off for nominations is today so we’ll know all candidates tomorrow) to see who supports better conditions for bicycle riders.

The Tasmanian Legislative Council holds elections for two to three of its seats every year in May, with the 15 members facing election every 6 years.

This year it’s Huon, Elwick and McIntyre to be contested.

Huon’s sitting member Bastian Siedel resigned last year so it’s an open election field for the byelection in the seat that takes in Huon Valley Council area, Leslie Vale, Neika, Longley, Bruny Island and some of Blacksmans Bay. 

Elwick’s sitting member Josh Willie has served one term in the seat which covers the sourthern part of Glenorchy Council and the northern reaches of the Hobart Council area, which is most of the Intercity Cycleway. Mr Willie has notably started riding an ebike to get around the electorate and into Parliament House via the cycleway.

McIntrye is held by Tania Rattray who has served 3 terms and could be deemed the cycling seat as it covers the popular MTB and rail trails in Dorset and Break O Day councils as well as the Railton trails and Longford and surrounds which is very popular for road riding.  

We want all candidates to support projects that will make it easier for people to ride their bikes for transport and recreation, no matter where their seat is. We asked all known candidates for the elections whether they would take the Safer Cycling Pledge.

Safer Cycling Pledge

If I am elected to the Legislative Council, I pledge to:

  • support the sealing of road shoulders on routes popular for cycling
  • support protected cycleways in urban centres
  • support programs which help people choose active transport options
  • support legislative changes which create safer conditions for vulnerable road users like bicycle riders.

We’ll let you know which candidates sign on to the pledge on our website, which also includes contact details for candidates so you can let them know what issues are important to you and your vote:

www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/our-campaigns/votebike-tas-legislativecouncil2022/

We’ve already had one pledge returned by Aldo Antolli in Huon and one promised by Rick Cazaly in Elwick.

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