I’M NOT THE VILLAIN
HICKEY FINALLY SPEAKS: Coup was not my plan
SUE Hickey says she is not to blame for her shock elevation to Speaker of Tasmania’s House of Assembly.
Breaking her silence, Ms Hickey rejected suggestions her stunning coup to take the chair from the grasp of longserving Liberal MP Rene Hidding was planned well before Parliament sat.
“I know everybody wants it to be this major Machiavellian, villain-ary (plan), I’m sorry to disappoint but it was on the floor,” she said.
“I still intend to be a valuable contributing member of the Liberal Party.”
THE new Speaker of Tasmania’s House of Assembly denies she was the villain in a coup to take the job from the grasp of long-serving Liberal MP Rene Hidding.
Denison Liberal MHA Sue Hickey has stuck by comments that the Speakership coup happened on the floor of the House and was not planned — like many have suggested — in the days and weeks leading up to the first sitting day of the 49th Parliament.
Ms Hickey, the former Hobart lord mayor, believed she had been slated for a ministry in Premier Will Hodgman’s second term Cabinet and was “very disappointed” when she was passed over.
“It was certainly implied that with my high profile and the credentials I had gained over the years that that was the most likely outcome,” Ms Hickey told the Mercury.
“It isn’t the reason that all of this happened. When you go into parliament you have to accept that you’re new.
“It may have been at the back of my mind, I don’t know that I gave that a great deal of thought [when accepting the nomination].”
Ms Hickey said prior to the coup, no one approached her, she had no conversations with Labor leader Rebecca White or Greens leader Cassy O’Connor, and she “did no deals.”
Some political insiders have suggested it was unlikely that the decision to accept the nomination for Speaker was made on the floor of the House.
However, Ms Hickey suggests she may have underestimated the significance of the move. “I know everybody wants it to be this major Machiavellian, villain-ary [plan], I’m sorry to disappoint, but it was on the floor,” she said.
“There’s a few people who would like me to be seen as the villain, other people have written beautiful cards and quotes about [ex-British prime minister] Maggie Thatcher and all sorts of important people saying that this is a breakthrough for democracy. “I didn’t betray the Liberal Party, I haven’t left the Liberal Party, I still intend to be a valuable contributing member of the Liberal Party.”
Ms Hickey will have the casting vote on Government legislation that fails to get support from Labor and the Greens, and conversely could help pass legislation brought to the House by opposition parties.