Ministerial Workloads
Ms BURNET question to PREMIER, Mr ROCKLIFF
[10.09 a.m.]
When you introduced legislation to restore the House of Assembly to 35 members on 25 May 2022, a decision that was both courageous and commendable, you justified it on the basis that ministers were carrying excessive workloads. In your second reading speech, you said that the expansion would help to support and protect ministers from burnout, so Tasmania does not lose people of experience. At the time, your government had nine ministers. Following the election, that number increased to 11. With former minister Howlett's departure and despite minister Jaensch taking on some of the portfolios, you only have 9 ministers. How do you intend to reduce the burden on your existing ministry and ensure each portfolio receives the attention it deserves?
ANSWER
Mr ROCKLIFF - I thank the honourable member for the question. First, in answer to the honourable Leader for the Greens' question: to the best of my knowledge, I did read the statutory declarations at the time.
To your question, the expansion of parliament was, in my view, an opportunity to restore what was a mistake in 1998, where we could have more accountability from the crossbench and more accountability of the executive government and, indeed, an expansion of the ministerial portfolios as well, to ease the pressure and workload. On individual ministers, I still believe in the changes that parliament made and the change that I put forward.
Supplementary Question
Ms BURNET - Thank you for that answer, but I suppose we're looking at considerable pressure on a handful of ministers. I'm concerned about not only the burnout but the attention for each portfolio; how do you ensure that when you don't have a larger amount of ministers?
Mr ROCKLIFF - I have a lot of faith in the ministerial line up, a lot of faith in the ability and capability of our ministers. There's still one extra minister than the previous parliament, so the workload is spread more than previous parliaments, can I say, and I have every faith in the ability of each minister and, indeed, each local member as well.