Liberal leader Jeremy Rockliff has been reappointed as Tasmania’s premier after a visit to Government House, despite admitting he has “no written or verbal assurances” of support from crossbench MPs.
Governor Barbara Baker recommissioned Rockliff on Wednesday morning after the Liberals won 14 seats in the recent state election, leaving them short of a majority in the 35-seat parliament.
She said that as the incumbent, Rockliff “has the right to remain in office”, but stressed it will ultimately be up to parliament to “have the final say in who should be premier”.
“It is better for confidence to be determined inside and not outside the parliament,” the Governor said.
Parliament will resume on Tuesday, August 19, when Rockliff will face the challenge of locking in crossbench support to avoid a no-confidence motion.
Any MP, including from Labor, could put forward such a motion, triggering a test of numbers on the floor.
Independent MP Craig Garland has already indicated he will not give confidence and supply to Rockliff, making the premier’s path to securing a working majority one member more difficult.
Despite the obstacles, Rockliff is determined to make the next parliament work and avoid handing power to Labor leader Dean Winter.
“I believe that we can govern very sensibly in minority when it comes to working with the crossbench,” he said.
“I’ve had very good engagement with individual members of the crossbench over the last few weeks.”
Rockliff again pointed out that the Liberals secured more than 40% of the primary vote with a positive swing and argued that parliament should respect that result.
“The people have spoken. The will of the people needs to be and must be respected,” Rockliff said.
“Tasmanians are sick of the political games and, frankly, they are turned off by the hostility and so what is important is that we are all mature in our approach.”
“We’ve governed in minority before and we’ll continue to do so again.”
