ID 0321

State Government of Tasmania beginning 24 January 2011 - period in office of Premier Giddings, Larissa Tahireh (Lara) ending on 17 January 2014

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Period in office of premier (see Glossary entry for 'period in office' and related terms)

Premier
Giddings, Larissa Tahireh (Lara)
Date of beginning of period in office
24 January 2011
Date of end of period in office
17 January 2014 
Reason for end of preceding period in office
Change of party leader 
Reason for end of this government
Change of partisan support for premier/PM (see notes)
Number of days in office
1,089 

Parliamentary support during period

Party affiliation of premier at start of period
Australian Labor Party
If coalition government
Coalition partner 1
Tasmanian Greens
Coalition partner 2
--none--
Coalition partner 3
--none--
Coalition partner 4
--none--
Party support in parliament at beginning of period
Coalition
If change in parliamentary support during period
--none--  
If further change during period
--none--  

Number of ministers at beginning of period (this may vary during the period)

Total number of ministers
9
Number from party of premier
7
Number from coalition party 1
2
Number from coalition party 2
Number from upper house
1
Number who are women
4

Assembly elections contested as premier or after which became premier (see Glossary entry for 'after election')

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Election Premier at election Premier's party Premier after election Premier's party
TAS 15 March 2014Larissa Tahireh (Lara) GiddingsAustralian Labor PartyWilliam Edward Felix (Will) HodgmanLiberal Party

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Notes

Change of party leader: Beginning of Giddings's first period in office; Premier Bartlett resigned on 24 January 2011, stating that he wished to spend more time with his young children. Although political support for the Premier had declined, there had been no public discussion of a move to replace him as leader of the Labor Party; after a period as Attorney-General, he retired from the House of Assembly four months later in May 2011. The Labor Party caucus chose Lara Giddings to lead the party; she became Premier of an Australian Labor Party and Tasmanian Greens coalition government; for a summary of the context of this change of premier, see Megan Alessandrini, 'Tasmania', Australian Journal of Politics and History, Australian Political Chronicle, January-June 2011, 57 (4) December 2011: 651-655, at 651-652.

Change of partisan support for premier/PM: Policy differences between the Australian Labor Party and its coalition partner, the Tasmanian Greens, had led the Labor Party caucus to become increasingly dissatisfied with coalition government. The issue became more pressing with the approach of the House of Assembly elections scheduled for March 2014. Discussions within the Labor Party prompted the Premier to terminate the coalition arrangements with the Greens on 17 January 2014 by removing the two Tasmanian Greens ministers and replacing them with two new ministers from the Labor Party. At the same time, the Premier announced that she had requested an election for the House of Assembly on 15 March 2015.

This database regards a change in the partisan support for a premier in the lower house of parliament as marking the end of a premier's period in office. Accordingly, after the termination of the commissions of the Tasmanian Greens ministers, Giddings started her second periond in office as Premier of an Australian Labor Party minority government which faced a general election in two months.

Sources

Tasmanian Government Gazette, Monday 24 January 2011, No. 21124 (Vol. CCCXVI).

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