Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader
We thought long and hard before bringing on a Motion of No Confidence in the Premier today. We recognise that such Parliamentary moves cannot be taken lightly or used frivolously.
Ultimately, given the events of the past week, last year and the Liberals' practices in the House over the past two years, we have no confidence in the Premier's capacity to lead an open, accountable and honest government.
To date, two Liberal Ministers, Mr Groom and Mr Brooks, have been caught misleading Parliament. Two Ministers, Mr Harriss and Mr Brooks, have left the job early. It's quite a strike rate for a relatively new government.
The Premier has the front to say the Labor Green Government was dysfunctional. We held it together in difficult times for almost four years, and no Minister in the last term knowingly misled Parliament, as we have seen under this majority government.
There is a cultural problem at the heart of the Hodgman Government. We see it every day in Question Time, and we endure it in Budget Estimates, with Ministers evading answers and inevitably blaming someone else or some other government at some other time.
Tasmanians rightly expect their Premier to take responsibility. A Premier who is prepared to uphold the highest ethical standards in government and in the Parliament.
Unfortunately, the evidence is clear that this is not what they have with Will Hodgman.
He might have survived a No Confidence Motion with his numbers on the floor of the House, but after obfuscating and protecting two Ministers who have misled parliament, Premier Hodgman will face the real test in the community.
Tasmanians are waking up to the dishonesty and spin at the core of this Liberal majority Government. The Premier has protected two Ministers who misled Parliament, that fact won't be forgotten.
The motto of the Hodgman Government is clear - mislead if the going gets hot, don't get caught if possible, but the Premier will stand by you if you do.