Tasmanian Environment Minister Madeleine Ogilvie has resigned from cabinet after admitting she was a party to a Supreme Court matter she’d initially denied any involvement in.
In a statement this evening, Premier Jeremy Rockliff said he accepted Ogilvie’s request to move to the backbench.
He acknowledged “the considered way in which she has approached this matter.”
Ogilvie said she did not want the government distracted by the matter and had asked the Premier to let her move to the backbench.
She said she was bound by confidentiality obligations she wouldn’t breach.
“It is a difficult position for myself as I must now choose between upholding legal obligations to the court or providing the Greens with information to which they are not legally entitled,” she said.
“I will be maintaining confidentiality.”
The controversy stems from a Budget Estimates hearing on November 17, 2025, when Ogilvie was asked whether she’d been a subject or party to any Supreme Court matters in the previous 18 months.
She said no.
But in parliament on Thursday, Ogilvie conceded that was wrong.
“I want to make clear I am a party to a matter currently before the Supreme Court initiated by me in the execution of my duties as Minister,” she said.
“I’m not able at this time to provide any details regarding the matter but I will do so at the earliest possible opportunity when I’m legally able to do so.”
Ogilvie said she had already provided a clarification to parliament on November 20 last year, three days after the Estimates hearing.
“In that clarification I stated that I had not been the subject of legal proceedings initiated by another party,” she said.
Tasmanian Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff pressed Ogilvie on which portfolio the Supreme Court proceedings related to, but Ogilvie again declined to answer.
Woodruff said the clarification did nothing to fix what she called a completely false statement.
“This is a clear-cut case of a minister intentionally misleading parliament,” Woodruff said on Thursday.
“As the Ministerial Code of Conduct says, that means the minister should resign.”
In response to today’s announcement, Woodruff said Ogilvie had “still refused to admit to her dishonesty and has once again tried to revise history”.
“We still have a range of questions about this matter.”
“Those include why it took six months and multiple attempts at clarification for the truth to come out – even though other members of the government must have known she had lied.”
Rockliff praised Ogilvie’s work across her portfolios, particularly in the tech sector, AI and digital connectivity.
He said she would continue contributing as the Member for Clark in areas such as digital innovation and emerging technologies.
“Our government remains focused on the priorities that matter to Tasmanians, growing a strong economy and a caring community, and we will continue to get on with that work,” Rockliff said.
