Tasmanian Election - All aboard the Hodgman bus!

Tasmanian EDO has been a great experience. Along with the rest of the Hobart EDOs, we've spent most of the week travelling around in the branded Hodgman bus. The bus has taken us in and around Hobart letterboxing, doorknocking, and meeting hardworking candidates and friendly locals across Hobart.

Today we spent the morning signwaving in central Hobart for Simon Behrakis, Tasmanian Young Liberal Treasurer and candidate for Denison. We then went off in the bus to go letterbox beautiful Sandy Bay for Simon, followed by a hard-earned burger lunch at a local cafe. We followed it up by going out and manning a shopping centre for Dean Young (another Denison candidate), and then dropping in on the University of Tasmania Liberal Club's Market Day stall.

The mood on the ground here is very positive; locals seem friendly almost everywhere we go. Labor's proposed pokies ban has stirred up local clubs; even pubs in dead-red Labor suburbs are putting up Liberal corflutes and banners. We're more than happy to have a punt and a pint at supportive local pubs and clubs.

As the ACT has a very similar Hare-Clark electoral system to Tasmania, there is a fair bit we can learn here and take back home to use in our 2020 campaign. For this reason, it's been something of an eye-opening experience, as well as great fun.

Election Day here is a breeze compared to everywhere else. Due to the complete ban on campaigning around polling places, and the media blackout prior to the election, all parties just take the day off. For us, used to pulling an all-nighter on election eve to set up and guard booths, it'll be a strange yet nice change.

Darcy Bee-Hickman and Thea Winter are members of the ACT Young Liberals