Tasmanians may be forced to the polls again before Christmas if a no-confidence motion against Premier Jeremy Rockliff succeeds, a senior government minister has warned.
Minister for Government Business Eric Abetz said a Premier who is the subject of a successful no-confidence motion would be expected to resign.
“I’m sure I don’t have to remind the House that in relation to a no-confidence motion there are very serious consequences,” he said.
“Because if you have a no-confidence motion carried in the Premier he may well be visiting Government House and advising the need for an election.”
“This would be … in circumstances where we had an election on March the 23rd.”
“We may well then have, should this motion get through, an election before Christmas.”
The Greens moved the motion against the Premier on Tuesday morning following an announcement that the state government had shelved its mandatory pre-commitment pokies machine card.
Leader Rosalie Woodruff claimed Rockliff had “sold out” the nation-leading policy to the gaming lobby and “deliberately lied” about implementing it during the election campaign.
“It’s not okay to continue to have a Premier who is untrustworthy. It’s not okay to have a Premier who is not true to his word,” she said.
“When you’re choosing to go with the ultra-rich profit-making pokies industry over vulnerable Tasmanians, I call shame and we have no confidence in a Premier who does that.”
“It is absolutely the rock-bottom he could go and we cannot have him in that role anymore.”
