Former Attorney-General Elise Archer quit the Liberal party over allegations of bullying and leaks of damaging private messages on Friday, but says she may still remain in Parliament.
Speaking to the ABC on Sunday, Archer said she was “taking some time to reconsider” her place in state parliament as an independent after receiving an “outpouring of support” from the community.
Archer said if she was to remain in parliament she would sit as an independent alongside former Liberals Lara Alexander and John Tucker and would not guarantee supply and confidence to the government.
“[I would be] no longer part of the government. They have themselves to blame,” she said.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff kicked Archer out of the cabinet over the allegations he called “unacceptable by any standard”.
“As a consequence of this, Ms Archer is no longer a member of my Cabinet,” the Premier said on Friday.
Archer denies the bullying allegation and claims the leaked message was taken out of context.
Tasmanian electoral analyst Kevin Bonham believes this situation could potentially lead to a mid-term change of government or a change of premier.
“You can’t be continually fronting up to a parliament where you don’t have the numbers and there’s constant uncertainty about whether the government can continue,” Bonham told the ABC.
“That could be so unstable that it’s even possible that you could get a mid-term change of government out of that, or a change of premier.”
