Just 14 months after the last state election and a month after the federal vote, Tasmanians look set to head back to the polls again. Parliament has given premier Jeremy Rockliff his marching orders, courtesy of a no-confidence motion that passed by just one vote. But Mr Rockliff has vowed to fight to the end and let the people decide who will be premier.
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00:01Arriving at Parliament on what could be his last day as the state's leader.
00:07I have a lot more fight in me. We have built a better Tasmania.
00:14Debate on the no confidence motion against Jeremy Rockcliffe took up most of the day.
00:19I'm not going to support a budget that continues to return billion dollar cash deficits for the next four years
00:25after the government has been put on notice by Saul Eslake.
00:28And to think that members of this house, any of us, would imagine that they have the right to terminate that man's career on the basis of this motion.
00:38While Mr Rockcliffe was the focus, some had questions for Labor leader Dean Winter, the one who started it all.
00:45You owe it to Tasmanians, you owe it to everybody on the crossbench and the Greens.
00:50Stand up and say what you are going to do.
00:54At lunch, the Premier visited Dark Park, waiting for light to be shed on his future.
01:00While the Labor team assembled in front of one of the publicly owned companies it had vowed to protect.
01:06Are you staking your leadership on this stunt working out?
01:09I'm sorry, this is really, really serious. This is the most serious thing that any opposition leader could do.
01:15This is the most serious decision that any parliamentarian could make.
01:19And I'm not taking it lightly.
01:21At the end of the long two days, the Labor leader made his final case.
01:25This is not personal. This is about Tasmania's future.
01:29It's about making sure we've got a government and a Premier who are prepared to put Tasmania's interests first.
01:35As expected, the motion ended in a tie, with Speaker Michelle O'Byrne casting the deciding vote.
01:41No one in this chamber could realistically expect me to provide confidence to a Liberal government.
01:47No one would expect me to turn my back on the rules of a party that I have believed in my entire life.
01:53A Premier defeated.
01:55In my personal opinion, this is a very sad day for Tasmania.
01:59I'm so disappointed. If not broken hearted, frankly.
02:08Down, but not yet out.