If you watched enough of Peter Gutwein's press conferences when he was Tasmanian premier — and there was plenty of opportunity during the first year of the pandemic — you would have quickly noticed how much he liked to say "to be frank".
This week, almost a year after he shocked the state by leaving politics, Mr Gutwein was doing just that: being frank.
Frank about his views on the federal Liberal Party's decision to oppose the Voice to Parliament in the coming referendum.
And frank about what that may mean for the party as it soul-searches after losing government nationally and in every state and territory — except for Tasmania.
"… should the Liberal party maintain its opposition to the voice it will simply accelerate its increasing irrelevance!" Mr Gutwein tweeted on Thursday.
He followed up the tweet in radio interviews the next day.
"I think it's, to be frank, very disappointing in respect of where the Liberal Party have arrived at," he told ABC Radio's RN Drive program.
"It seems to be more of a nod to their conservative base, instead of lifting their eyes to the horizon and considering how matters could be improved for First Nations people."
Mr Gutwein was dismissive of the Liberal Party's arguments against the Voice.
"I think what the Liberal Party is doing at the moment is attempting to confuse the Australian people, to be frank," he said.
"Now to be putting up straw man arguments, in my view, in respect of what's been proposed, will do nothing to advance the cause of First Nations people in this country."
Mr Gutwein also revealed that he's no longer a member of the Liberal party, not having renewed his membership after he left office, although that was unconnected to the Voice to Parliament matters.
Jeremy Rockliff — Mr Gutwein's successor and sole remaining Liberal premier — is also bucking the federal party line.
He's a long-time supporter of the Voice and is now pledging to campaign vigorously for it.
"Of course the way forward is to support the Voice, support the recognition in the constitution, [to] consult with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people," he said on Friday.
"While I don't agree with the federal position, my position as premier of Tasmania is very clear, and that is: We need to move forward, united as a nation."
Mr Gutwein was an extremely popular premier, probably helped by the quasi-wartime atmosphere of the early stages of the pandemic but, even before that, a strong vote-getter in his seat of Bass.
Tasmania's Hare-Clark state electoral system elects multiple members in each electorate, based on the proportion of the vote each candidate and party gets.
At the 2021 state election, Mr Gutwein gained so many votes that he was able to carry several other Liberal candidates back into parliament with him.
Jeremy Rockliff is also a popular politician, securing high personal vote counts in the more-conservative north-west Tasmanian seat of Braddon, despite his progressive views.
Whether or not his support for the Voice helps or hinders him with Tasmanian voters is yet to be seen.
While many prominent Tasmanian Aboriginals support the Voice to Parliament, including Professor Maggie Walter and Rodney Dillon, the influential Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) opposes it.
The TAC wants a treaty between the Commonwealth and Aboriginal People, and Aboriginal seats in the national parliament, to come first.
Tasmanians are also older, on average, than the rest of Australia, and the Liberal's heartland of north and north-west Tasmania is more conservative than the south.
However, under a succession of moderate Liberal premiers — who've staunchly supported the Voice to Parliament — Tasmania was the only state to record a swing to the Liberals in last year's federal poll.
And it's now the only blue state, below a uniformly red mainland.
Perhaps, if the Liberals take Mr Gutwein's advice and turn their eyes to the horizon, they should ponder that.
