Tasmania's governor Barbara Baker says she will be "taking the time necessary to give due consideration to all available options" before deciding on a request for a state election from Premier Jeremy Rockliff. Mr Rockliff met her at Government House on Tuesday evening after losing a no-confidence motion a week ago.
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00:00The Governor has said by Friday she'll meet with the Premier again to consider his request
00:08for an early election, but she doesn't have to grant that request, and as we know, it's
00:13only been 15 months since Tasmanians were last at the polls for a state election, so
00:17it's a pretty unique situation.
00:19This is obviously all off the back of a no-confidence motion that was moved in the Premier last
00:23week in the lower house of Tasmanian Parliament.
00:26He said at the beginning of that, if this motion is successful, I will seek a snap election,
00:32but whether that request will be granted remains to be seen.
00:35Unusual for a Governor not to immediately take a Premier's advice on calling an election.
00:40Well, we find ourselves in an unusual situation overall in Tasmania.
00:44As I mentioned, it's only been 15 months for this current government, its term.
00:49It'll be, if this request is granted, it'll be the fourth election in seven years, which
00:53is a lot of time spent at polling booths for Tasmanians, and the Governor is within her
00:58rights to consider all of the options to not rush this decision.
01:02She could say to Mr Rockcliffe, is there another Liberal member who could secure the confidence
01:08of the House and could you govern that way?
01:10Or she could go to Labor and say, could you form minority government?
01:13They have ruled out doing a deal with the Greens already, repeatedly.
01:17So there are a couple of options at play and it's an unusual situation, but an election
01:22could still be on the cards.
01:24We just have to wait a little bit longer to find out what the Governor decides.
01:27Ultimately, it is her call.