Tasmanian ALP leader Bryan Green vows to start afresh in bid for re-election (ABC)

View Comments ABC Bryan Green is vowing to make Labor's stint in opposition short.

Tasmania's Opposition Leader has called for fresh policy ideas as the party tries to rebuild and reclaim government.

Bryan Green has delivered his first speech as Labor leader to the party's annual conference in Launceston since the ALP was roundly defeated at the March poll.

Yesterday, Labor delegates voted to tear up the party's decades-old policy document and start afresh.

Mr Green used his speech to rail against the State Government and to call for suggestions for new policy positions for Labor.

"Once the platform is established and our policies set in stone, we will implement those policies when we return to Government," he said.

He vowed that Labor's stint in opposition would be short.

"[We will be] elected in 2018 so we can throw the conservatives to where they belong - on the scrap heap for another 12 or 16 years."

"My mission over the next four years is to ensure that the party and the broader community are fully engaged in the development of Labor's policies to ensure that they do reflect our shared goals.

"Part of the process is to revitalise the party."

The party has vowed to never again have non-members in cabinet.

An internal review after the March defeat found a power-sharing deal with the Greens in 2010 turned voters away.

Mr Green told the conference Labor represented the middle political ground between the Greens' Kim Booth, whom he labelled radical, and Will Hodgman, whom he said was under control of the Liberals' right wing.

"We can be the party that fits in between those two extremes that appeals to the majority of Tasmanians," he said.

"We are the party that can focus on the economy without losing sight of the importance of social reforms to make our community more inclusive and more compassionate."

The Greens' Kim Booth dismissed Labor's ban on ever again sharing cabinet positions as a stunt and childish.

"It's likely after the next election that we're going to have another power-sharing Parliament of some form," he said.

Privately, some in Labor agree with delegates pointing out Labor's new rules on power-sharing can always be voted on again and changed.

Mr Booth repeated the Greens' call for the number of MPs in Parliament to be extend from 25 to 35.

That bid was last voted down by Labor and the Liberals last year.

Voting age for party members drops to 14

Labor has also voted to lower the voting age for party members.

Yesterday, Labor's federal candidate for Lyons Brian Mitchell moved to lower the age for voting on internal party matters from 18 to 16.

The party eventually agreed to take it even lower to 14.

Debate continued at the conference on a range of bills being introduced by the State Government.

Labor delegates slammed the Government's anti-forest protester laws, which Mr Green decried as poorly drafted.

The forestry union's delegates used their contribution to condemn the plan, which has been welcomed by the Forest Industries Association.

The Government's plan to freeze public sector salaries for 12 months also drew scorn.

In another new policy platform passed yesterday, Labor delegates at the party's next national conference will be forced to vote in favour of gay marriage.

The party agreed to scrap existing rules which give Tasmanian delegates a conscience vote on the issue.

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