Please! Would current Liberal head prefect Jeremy Rockliff spare us the hypocrisy of his utterances on minority government, and the ‘defectors’ he says will precipitate an early election.
At his press conference on Thursday, February 8, former Liberal, now independent John Tucker re-emphasised his and MHA Lara Alexander’s discomfort when they were part of a tone-deaf parliamentary Liberal party.
“[The premier’s] demand that we sit quietly in the corner until we are told what we can and cannot do by the boys’ club is a reminder of why we left the Liberal party in the first place,” he said.
Premier Rockliff would do well to consider the mantra of ‘stable majority government’ which underpinned the Hodgman Government’s election promises in 2014. It’s been anything but stable since Will Hodgman departed four years ago.
Jeremy should cast his mind back to May 2021, when his former boss Peter Gutwein had Liberal Speaker Sue Hickey expelled from the Party – thus fabricating a minority government, and his excuse for a snap poll.
Gutwein had then-independent and once-Labor member Madeleine Ogilvie secretly signed up to change sides yet again. There were no snide remarks from then Deputy Premier Rockliff about the conduct of independent members – although maybe this is when he first began to believe they could be controlled!
Ogilvie edged out independent Hickey after 11 days of careful vote-counting. The Liberals’ predicted landslide became the slimmest majority.
Remember Adam Brooks? Resigned, re-elected and resigned again the day after the 2021 government was sworn in – with his seat gifted on a countback to Felix Ellis.
Along with the Ogilvie switcheroo, many analysts saw the popular Braddon maverick’s votes as a calculated Liberal strategy to get across the line at a time when Brook’s integrity was once more being seriously questioned. A dodgy Victorian driver’s licence, then firearms offences in Queensland proved to be real issues as the ballots were being counted, and Brooks exited to save embarrassment for the Liberals, but enabling Gutwein to govern.
Less than a year later, in February 2022, Sarah Courtney exited the ‘stable majority government’ and in came Lara Alexander on a countback.
Gutwein retired, replaced by an unknown Simon Wood, bequeathing Rockliff a majority of just one and a government bereft of experienced ministers.
Bolstered by the wedge between Labor and the Greens, Rockliff made a captain’s call to build an uncosted AFL stadium, at the same time rejecting growing concerns about billions in cost over-runs on the Marinus Link project.
Citing a lack of constructive dialogue with party backbenchers, MP John Tucker and Liberal colleague Lara Alexander resigned and moved to the crossbench, promising supply and confidence to Rockliff’s minority hold if the Government subjected the stadium and Marinus to parliamentary scrutiny.
Rockliff, with his hurdy-gurdy of ministers, stumbled on, until allegations of an unhappy workplace saw his Attorney-General Elise Archer in the spotlight. He demanded her resignation, but had not considered her next move: which was to resign from the Liberal Party, and join Tucker and Alexander as another disaffected Liberal on the crossbench.
In a hard-ball move, Rockliff put it to Archer that it would be on her head if an election was forced by a motion of no confidence in the House of Assembly. Why the former AG crumbled will only be known by Liberal Party movers and shakers. Another wannabe politician in Simon Behrakis was elevated to keep a Liberal seat warm.
Last week the Premier replayed his blame-game of destabilisation. In John Tucker’s words, he and his colleague were being coerced into ‘nothing more than a rubber stamp for government decisions’.
Any new arrangement with the Premier would make him a ‘willing accomplice in the trashing of democratic principles’.
This time Rockliff’s political bluff is being called.
The Liberal Party will only remain in government if they fulfill their earlier covenant with the independent MPs. These two want to see animal cruelty issues in abattoirs addressed immediately and the never-ending expansion of the AFL’s intrusion into our parliamentary processes and our suburbs halted and debated in Parliament.
Parliamentary scrutiny was promised by Rockliff to ensure he had Tucker’s and Alexander’s support. He’s clearly reneged on that.
Then there’s the Mainus Project. John Tucker was the instigator of the Joint House Committee on Energy Matters in Tasmania. Public submissions to this important inquiry closed on February 2. Respected MLC Ruth Forrest will chair deliberations, where Marinus Link and a web of ancillary project will be discussed, with a focus on future benefits for Tasmania.
This issue, along with others such as inept governance of child welfare issues, youth justice, ambulance ramping and a clogged health system would be enough to send any Government hiding in the hills. Then there’s the additional issues of a chronic shortage of housing, plus the latest scandal to emerge from a crooked racing industry – which the Government oversees and funds to the tune of $30 million a year.
Current Attorney General Guy Barnett may have to face the Privileges Committee due to his refusal, when Energy Minister, to supply cost estimates for the snowballing costs of Marinus, North West Transmission Developments and other ‘battery of the nation’ projects. His reticence may be linked to inside knowledge that Marinus Link Pty Ltd is about to be taken over by the Commonwealth, with conditions meaning billions in debt as Tasmania builds associated infrastructure.
A snap election may be a welcome release for the Liberals to escape interrogation on so many poor performances. And there’s no doubt that it would ‘clear the air’” for Tasmanians to vote-in politicians they trust to lead us out of the imbroglio this decaying government has created.
There are 35 seats to be contested in the forthcoming election, and both major parties know that their chances of a majority are slender, at best. Despite vows to reject coalition government, both Rockliff and White will dispense with previously-stated incompatibilities if Tasmanian voters demand a government moderated by independents and the Greens.
For their roles in bringing to public attention an authoritarian party out of touch with many of their ‘welded-on’ voters, John Tucker and Lara Alexander deserve to be re-elected.
But looking back to the ascension of Madeleine Ogilvie after the political knifing of Sue Hickey, and the dismal performance that manoeuvre brought to the Liberal ministry, what hope is there that Tasmanians will empower progressive individuals to map out a new direction which is not dictated by the major parties and the deep pockets of their shady donors?
However, there’s a new dynamic emerging in Tasmanian politics, and party-room tactics like those expressed by Premier Rockliff may be the last hurrah before he becomes part of an Opposition coalition, feeling betrayed by everyone.
That’s democracy at work.
Greg Pullen is a committee member of the Central Highlands No Turbine Action Group (NTAG) and has a keen interest in renewable energy transformation, in particular its benefits for Tasmania. He is a firm believer in the KISS Principle.
