I was shocked like everyone

THE night before State Parliament resumed, newly elected Liberal MHA Sue Hickey was up late putting the finishing touches to her inaugural speech.

She was due to give the speech the next afternoon, after a morning of mostly ceremonial goings-on in the House of Assembly.

As she tells it, by lunchtime the following day her inaugural speech was off the table, after she made the almost split-second decision to accept Labor leader Rebecca White’s nomination for Speaker.

Ms Hickey had heard rumours Labor was thinking of nominating a candidate to challenge Government pick Rene Hidding for the role. But it did not cross her mind that the candidate might be her.

Ms Hickey said her decision to accept the nomination was made on the floor of Parlia- ment. “I didn’t have any warning. Nobody approached me,” she said.

“I had no conversations with the leader of the Opposition or the leader of the Greens and I did no deals.”

Even husband Peter Bull was surprised. He was in the garden that Tuesday morning when the phone rang about 11.15am — within moments of the coup occurring.

“I had no idea whatsoever,” Mr Bull said.

“I was extremely excited. I know that she will be impartial.

“Her genuine interest has always been the people [as Lord Mayor], it was the people

of Hobart, now it’s the people of Tasmania.”

Ms Hickey said she realised she was not “flavour of the month” when the Premier, Deputy Premier and Leader of the House reacted, stunned, after the vote.

“I think everyone went into shock and probably myself as well,” Ms Hickey said.

“There were a few expressions that they weren’t happy.

“I think there was just this moment of everyone going into meltdown which was probably understandable with hindsight. At the time I was a bit stunned at everyone’s reaction.”

Ms Hickey said it was true a Liberal colleague made an unsavoury comment to her afterwards.

But she said she did not realise she had become the most powerful member of the Tasmanian Parliament until later.

“It wasn’t until that night when Michael Polley came over and said ... that I was now the most powerful person in politics, which was a real surprise,” Ms Hickey said.

“I’m sort of amused by that but I’m not going to live my life like that. I’m going to take the job extremely responsibly.

“Any contentious legislation obviously I’ll take advice from anywhere I can get it, I’m not smug enough to think I’ve got all the answers just because I have a philosophical view on something.”

A Liberal insider said Ms Hickey was at a party meeting where Mr Hidding’s nomi- nation was discussed, but she did not say she was interested.

Ms Hickey said at that stage she had not considered putting her hand up for the job.

However, she said she had witnessed some division among Liberal MPs.

“I think there was a little bit of unease that someone would just be automatically put into the seat of Speaker, bearing in mind that Mark Shelton had been made Speaker (at the end of the 48th Parliament),” Ms Hickey said.

I think there was just this moment of everyone going into meltdown which was probably understandable with hindsight