Chamber Sessions Fairfax Tasmania

Episode 009 - Nick McKim by Fairfax Tasmania

The Legislative Council elections are nearly upon us.

The popular image of the upper house would have us believe it isn’t as glamourous as “the other place”.

But the Legislative Council is just as important as the lower house – it’s the final frontier for legislation, where all the bills that shape our state are either approved or disapproved.

This year, Launceston and Murchison are two of three electorates – the other being the Southern division of Rumney - that will decide on who is going to represent them in the upper house for the next six years.

On this week’s episode of Fairfax Tasmania’s state politics podcast, political commentator Kevin Bonham joins us to delve into the backgrounds of all the candidates and discuss the most pressing issues facing both Launceston and Murchison.

David Marr has had a long career as a journalist.

He has undertaken forensic studies of political figures like Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd and Bill Shorten, all of which were published as issues of the Quarterly Essay.

His latest subject is One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

'The White Queen: One Nation and the Politics of Race' examines the appeal of Ms Hanson and who exactly her followers are.

Mr Marr joined the Chamber Sessions podcast to discuss One Nation’s plans to expand into Tasmania.

Parliament might not have been sitting this week, but that didn’t mean Fairfax Tasmania’s state politics podcast was out of action.

Chamber Sessions endeavours to bring you the insider information on what’s happening in Tasmania’s political landscape.

And if politics doesn’t sleep, rarely can this podcast afford to either.

Renewable energy seemed to be all any politician could talk about over the past few days.

The Prime Minister paid a visit to the state’s North, making some significant announcements regarding Tasmania’s future contributions to the national energy market.

Meanwhile, Tasmanian Labor got a free hit when a group of peak health bodies gathered together to make a public statement.

With the 2016 energy crisis behind him, Energy Minister Matthew Groom is endeavouring to forge a path to a renewable future for Tasmania.

As the federal debate around renewable energy grows ever more fractious, Mr Groom wants to highlight the strengths of Tasmania's hydro-electric projects.

In this mid-week episode of our state politics podcast Chamber Sessions, Rob Inglis sits down with the Minister to discuss what lies ahead for the Hodgman government in 2017.

With another Saturday comes another episode of Fairfax Media’s Chamber Sessions – Tasmania’s only state politics podcast.

This past week has been a colourful one in Parliament House.

The government fended off accusations it had been leaking sensitive information to the media.

There were moments when Question Time resembled a surreal comedy skit.

And then the week ended with a sincere and heartfelt apology.

It was quintessential political theatre.

Who doesn’t love that?