The Premier is the leader of the Government in Tasmania. The word "Premier" means first or chief Minister. As leader of the Government, the Premier chooses up to 10 other Members to be Ministers, responsible for running government services. Together the Premier and Ministers are called Cabinet and they make key decisions for Tasmania.
What does the Premier do?
The Premier, as the most senior member of the Government, is responsible for all government services. They are the chief spokesperson for the Government. They run meetings with all the Ministers, called Cabinet meetings, to decide Government policies, decisions and spending. They represent Tasmania in talks with other governments, inside Australia and overseas, and to other interested groups.
Current Premier of Tasmania, the Honourable Jeremy Rockliff MP
In the Parliament, the Premier leads their party. They participate in debate and answer questions about government decisions. As well as being Premier, they may have other ministries to look after.
The Premier can decide when to call a House of Assembly election, by asking the Governor to dissolve the House of Assembly.
How is the Premier chosen?
To be eligible to be Premier, a person must be elected to the House of Assembly. In the past, some Premiers were elected to the Legislative Council, but this has not occurred since 1892. After a state election, the party or parties with majority support in the House of Assembly form Government. The Premier is the leader of the party in Government.
There are a number of ways in which Tasmania can get a new Premier. The most common way occurs when a party loses Government at a state election. In this case, if the Opposition wins the election, the Leader of the Opposition normally becomes the new Premier of Tasmania. At other times, a Premier may step down from office for personal reasons and their party chooses a new leader. Sometimes their party loses confidence in the Premier's ability to do a good job and chooses another person to be leader and therefore Premier. Technically a Premier could lose their seat at an election but their party wins the election, so the party would chose a new leader to become Premier. This has never happened in Tasmania.
History
First Premier of Tasmania
William Champ
The role of Premier of Tasmania has changed over time. A number of early Premiers of Tasmania were members of the Legislative Council but since 1892, all Premiers have been Members of the House of Assembly. The position of Premier is not mentioned in the Tasmanian Constitution, the piece of legislation that sets out how Tasmania is governed and the form of the Parliament. The role of Premier is instead a convention, or practice, that is derived from the Westminster Parliament in the UK.
Since 1856 Tasmanian has had 57 Premiers and only one has been a woman. Lara Giddings, from the Australian Labor Party, became Tasmania's first female Premier in 2011 and retained the role until 2014.
The longest serving Premier of Tasmania is Sir Robert Cosgrove, who served a total of 18.5 years and the shortest serving is Thomas Gregson, who was Premier for just 2 months in the 1850s.