The results of the
previous election saw a substantial swing to the Liberal Party led by
Will Hodgman, defeating the then Labor government led by
Lara Giddings, which had governed in majority together with the
Greens until shortly before the election. The 2014 election saw the Labor party reduced to seven seats and the Greens reduced to three seats in the Assembly. Following the loss, Giddings resigned as leader of the Labor Party and was replaced by then opposition Deputy Premier
Bryan Green. He subsequently resigned from opposition leadership on 17 March 2017, and
Rebecca White was elected Labor leader unopposed. Aside from the Liberals, Labor and Greens, the
Jacqui Lambie Network, formed in 2015, fielded several candidates in 2018 and was considered a chance to pick up seats, although they failed to do so. The two other minor parties contesting the 2018 election were the
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and the newly formed T4T – Tasmanians 4 Tasmania.
Campaign With polls showing that the Greens and Jacqui Lambie Network were polling well, there was speculation that the Liberals could lose their majority. Nonetheless, Hodgman was adamant that he would only govern if the Liberals retained their majority, saying, "We will govern alone or not at all." The Labor party ran on a policy that claimed it would make Tasmania the first state in the country to remove poker machines from pubs and clubs. During the 2018 campaign
Federal Group, the largest operator of gaming venues in Tasmania, admitted to supporting its employees campaigning on a pro-pokie platform. Opposition Labor Leader Rebecca White claimed the Liberal Party outspent the Labor election campaign by a factor of 5 to 1. Whilst the disclosure of political donations in Tasmania is required annually, and donations below $13,000 don't have to be reported, there were widespread calls for greater transparency in campaign spending in the lead up to the 2018 election.
Federal Group had no applicable disclosed donations to the Tasmanian Liberal Party in the applicable yearly period prior to the election (2016–2017). However more recent donations prior to the election date are not required to be disclosed by the
Australian Electoral Commission until FYE 2017–18. These disclosures showed that the gambling industry donated over $400,000 to the Liberal Party. On the day before the election, 2 March 2018, it was revealed that the Liberal Party had tried to push through a plan to soften the state's
gun laws, to benefit farm workers and sporting shooters. ==Retiring MPs==