Rockliff to be recommissioned; future of his govt in hands of indies

THE Rockliff Government is expected to be recommissioned today, and its future will be confirmed one way or another by five key crossbench MPs when Parliament returns.

Mr Rockliff is expected to visit Governor Barbara Baker today, Wednesday August 6, to seek to be recommissioned after last month’s State Election.

If Ms Baker grants the Premier’s wish, the strength of the Liberals ability to hold minority government will be tested when Parliament returns next month.

The Liberals won most seats, 14, and increased their overall vote, while Labor had the worst result in more than a hundred years and won just 10 seats in the House of Assembly.

No party as a majority in its own right and will have to seek support from the crossbench. Some crossbench MPs have declared their hand publicly - the Greens say they want to deal with the Labor Party to form government, but publicly Labor is saying it won’t do a deal with the environmental party.

Braddon Independent Craig Garland has ruled out supporting the Liberals because of its handling of the Marinus Link issue.

Veteran Independent MP David O’Byrne in Franklin, newly elected Franklin Independent Peter George, Clark Independent MP Kristie Johnston, newly elected Independent Dr George Razay in Bass and Shooters, Farmers and Fishers MP Carlo Di Falco in Lyons will be the king makers when Parliament resumes to test who can hold the Treasury seats.

Mr Rockliff has walked away from demanding a formal confidence and supply agreement from the crossbench.

While the Liberals, Labor and the Greens each won the same number of seats as at the election last year, there were some changes in faces.

Three new Liberals were elected - Gavin Pearce in Braddon, Bridget Archer in Bass and Marcus Vermey in
Clark.

Two new Labor members secured seats Brian Mitchell in Lyons and Jess Greene in Bass.

All three former Jacquie Lambie network members lost their seats- Miriam Beswick, Rebekah Pentland and Andrew Jenner - as did Liberals Simon Wood, Nic Street and Simon Behrakis, and Labor's Casey Farrell.

It is likely the Liberals hold on power would be tested early on with the most likely mechanism used by opponents - the Address in Reply – a traditional motion in Parliament following an election.

Any MP could move to amend the Address in Reply and if supported by enough MPs the Liberals would not have confidence of the Parliament prompting the Governor to call on Labor to test its numbers.