Tasmania's first female Premier sworn in


Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 24/01/2011

Reporter: Martin Cuddihy

Lara Giddings was today sworn in as Tasmania's first female Premier, after David Bartlett announced he was stepping down to spend more time with his family.


TRACY BOWDEN, PRESENTER: She went into the weekend as Tasmania's Deputy Leader, but today Lara Giddings made history when she was sworn in as the island state's first female premier.

Her elevation to the top job followed the surprise resignation by David Bartlett, who says he made the decision in order to spend more time with his young family.

The new premier will continue to lead a minority Labor Government which holds power with the support of the Greens.

But she inherits a state economy facing some major challenges.

Martin Cuddihy reports from Hobart.

MARTIN CUDDIHY, REPORTER: At the age of 38, Tasmania's first female premier is already a veteran of more than a decade in state politics. Lara Giddings spent almost three years as David Bartlett's deputy before his shock resignation.

LARA GIDDINGS, TASMANIAN PREMIER: This has obviously been a big day for me and no-one - not one that I was expecting.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: The law graduate is a career politician. She's served as Health Minister, Attorney General and most recently as Treasurer.

In 1996, she became the youngest woman elected to an Australian Parliament.

GREG BARNS, BARRISTER: Look, she is - eats, sleeps and breathes politics. She's one of those people who - unlike David Bartlett, who I think rightly put his family first. Lara doesn't have that sort of commitment. That's not a criticism; she just doesn't have it.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: And now, Lara Giddings is leading a minority Labor government in a state facing some critical difficulties.

GREG BARNS: Tasmania has a huge budget deficit; it's about a $200 million hole in the budget. The Government business enterprises like Hydro Tasmania, which is an iconic business, has been haemorrhaging money. The public sector in Tasmania has grown around 30 per cent in the last 10 years. It will need to be cut back and wound back.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: Barrister and former Liberal staffer Greg Barns believes she has an unenviable task ahead of her.

GREG BARNS: Her priorities have to be to get the budget in order, undertake a fundamental restructuring of the role of government in Tasmania, increased migration, younger migration to Tasmania and push ahead with socially progressive legislation. If she can do all of those things, she will be one of the most successful premiers in recent Tasmanian history.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: Despite the challenges, Lara Giddings' predecessor has publicly anointed her as the right person for the job.

DAVID BARTLETT, OUTGOING TASMANIAN PREMIER: I'm very confident that Lara Giddings has the requisite skills and abilities.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: It was yesterday, out of blue, that David Bartlett announced his decision to quit as Premier. The former IT worker says he wasn't pushed by his Labor colleagues, but rather he needs to spend more time with his wife Larissa and children - five year old Matilda and seven year old Hudson.

DAVID BARTLETT: Hudson has expressed to me that he hates going out with me in public 'cause I talk to everyone else and not to him. And that's hard for a little boy to understand.

KATE CROWLEY, POLITICS, UNI. OF TASMANIA: The outcome is that we have Lara Giddings and Bryan Green: does that mean he was pushed? Well, if he wasn't pushed, it feels like he might've been from the outcome that we have.

LARA GIDDINGS: It has come about with not one drop of blood on the floor.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: David Bartlett's reign as premier has been a short but eventful one. In 2008, he was the fresh face to succeed Paul Lennon, promising a change in style and a more transparent government.

Mr Bartlett led the unpopular Labor team to an election last year, vowing to never negotiate a power-sharing deal.

DAVID BARTLETT (7.30 Report, Feb., 2010): Because a backroom deal with the Greens is a deal with the devil and I'm not gonna sell my soul for the sake of remaining in power.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: But after 12 years of power, Labor lost its outright majority and voters delivered a hung Parliament.

Then came the negotiations. Mr Bartlett eventually agreed to a deal that would see two Greens members sworn in as ministers.

WILL HODGMAN, TASMANIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: We were promised stability. We were promised that by both Nick McKim and David Bartlett after last year's election. And they said that they would govern in the best interests of Tasmanians. Well they've failed on every front. They've failed to deliver.

DAVID BARTLETT: I'm very proud of the formation of the Government after March. I think Tasmanians and all of us need to recognise that we will have hung parliaments and minority governments, maybe not every election, but very many elections in the decades ahead.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: Despite his decision to quit as Premier, David Bartlett isn't leaving politics. He'll stay on as Attorney General and Minister for Justice until the next election three years from now.

Bryan Green returns as Deputy Premier. He stepped down from the position in 2006 in the wake of a controversial monopoly deal. He was charged with interfering with an executive officer, but two Supreme Court juries couldn't reach a verdict.
LARA GIDDINGS: He has paid for that mistake, he's lived through that mistake, he's apologised for that mistake. He is human. We are all human. He is a different man and I judge him on the work that he's been doing as minister.

BRYAN GREEN, DEPUTY TASMANIAN PREMIER: I'm a better minister for that. I understand the processes a lot better now. And I will continue to make decisions on the basis of that understanding and what I've learned.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: But political commentators are wondering about his ability to work with the Greens.

KATE CROWLEY: The only question is over the Deputy Premier and whether he's going to be more aggressive towards the Greens and the tensions that that could cause. I think that's something that I think a lot of people will see potentially coming between now and the next election.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: The new premier sees things differently. She says she'll deliver stable government and hopes to be remembered for making a difference.

LARA GIDDINGS: I want Tasmania to flourish, Tasmanians to achieve even greater success, and most importantly, for Tasmanians to be proud of who we are.

TRACY BOWDEN: Martin Cuddihy reporting there from Hobart.

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Tasmania's first female Premier sworn in

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Tasmania's first female Premier sworn in