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December 15th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda LARA Giddings is safe and has the numbers to survive any challenge to her leadership, Tasmania’s most influential Labor politician said yesterday.
Speaker of the House of Assembly Michael Polley told the Mercury the Premier’s handling of the state’s current budget woes were the only way forward.
Mr Polley a 40-year veteran of Tasmanian Parliament denied reports in yesterday’s Mercury Ms Giddings did not have enough support from her Labor colleagues to stave of a challenge from would-be premier David O’Byrne.
Ms Giddings and Mr O’Byrne said there was no challenge yesterday.
However, Mr O’Byrne repeatedly failed to rule out a challenge in the future and made his leadership aspirations clear.
Speculation of a run at the top job by Mr O’Byrne will be the elephant in the room on Monday when the Parliamentary Labor Party meet for the final time this year.
Mr O’Byrne is not expected to ask Ms Giddings for her job during the meeting.
But the tap on the shoulder is still expected in the new year, Labor sources say.
Mr Polley – who was first elected into Tasmanian Parliament in 1972 at age 21 and has been re-elected at ten successive State elections in his seat of Lyons – said yesterday his experience told him Ms Giddings was safe.
“I am completely in support of the Premier,” Mr Polley said.
Like Ms Giddings yesterday Mr Polley said speculation had been fuelled by union concerns over the way the Premier was handling budget cuts.
But he said Ms Giddings was taking the right course of action.
“I represent core Labor people and I have for forty years
“But if you have not got the revenue and you have not got the money, and you don’t do something about it now, and you keep borrowing all it is going to do is make it worse for those people.”
Mr Polley said he was unaware of any disharmony within cabinet.
“I am not aware of any disharmony although of course there is always some disagreement on policy and so on
“But I am not aware of any disharmony.”
But Opposition leader Will Hodgman said a challenge by Mr O’Byrne was inevitable and there was no stability within the Government.
“Rather than a Premier and a Government working in the best interests of all Tasmanians, we’ve now got the ludicrous situation of a Premier constantly looking over her shoulder, and a senior Minister just waiting for the right time to make his move.”
The Liberals yesterday released recent internal Liberal polling for Tasmania from this month.
The survey of 400 people shows 73.8 per cent preferred Will Hodgman as premier compared to Ms Giddings.
When asked which party would most likely get a first preference vote if a state election was called the respondents had the Liberals in front with 61.6 per cent, Labor 20.2 per cent and Greens 9.7 per cent.
A poll running on the Mercury website yesterday had Mr O’Byrne leading the way with Mercury readers for most of the day – but only just.
Mr O’Byrne was preferred premier for 53 per cent of respondents last night.
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