Former Tasmanian Minister Michael Ferguson has thanked his colleagues in parliament for standing by him after his recent resignation from the state cabinet.
Ferguson was staring down the barrel of a no-confidence motion over the bungled handling of the new Spirit of Tasmania ferry and infrastructure rollout.
Speaking on Monday evening, Ferguson said he had been “considering” his position for some time and had been watching opposition MPs pile upon him “very closely”.
He praised independents Rebecca Pentland, Miriam Beswick and Craig Garland for supporting him ahead of the no-confidence motion, saying they had been “marvellous to deal with”.
“I just respect each of those three people so much … really respect them,” he said.
“When I did the numbers and had a look at what people were intending to do, I felt the best thing to do was to recognise that, get on with it and avoid the need for Parliament to waste hours when the Parliament should be focused on delivering the budget.”
“Because without that, we’re not able to get on and deliver the schools, the health facilities and the important new capital program that we have.”
Ferguson thanked Premier Jeremy Rockliff for the opportunities he had been given and acknowledged the “failures” that had occurred under his leadership.
“I take responsibility for the failures that I should take responsibility for and now it’s about getting on with it and supporting the quality of life and the happiness of the people of northern Tasmania,” he said.
“I want to provide the same level of passion and energy on the backbench as I’ve provided on the frontbench.”
“I want to be the person that people want to come and see to fix their problems in their local community and I will be their strongest advocate in private and in public going forward.”
