Minister back in firing line
Independent may support no-confidence bid
INDEPENDENT M P Madeleine Ogil view ill back a motion for a debate of no confidence in Housing Minister Roger Jaensch.
Mr Jaensch was last month accused of deliberately misleading parliament by saying he was unaware of plans to amend the laws covering evictions.
A leaked cabinet document showed otherwise, but a bid to bring on a motion of no confidence failed. Both Labor and the Greens say they plan to seek debate on the matter when parliament resumes next week.
“I have carefully considered the matter and I am inclined to support allowing the debate ,” Ms Ogilvies aid.
PLANS by opposition parties to pursue a no-confidence motion against Housing Minister Roger Jaensch next week have been given a boost, with key independent Madeleine Ogil vie indicating she supports the debate.
Mr Jaensch was last month accused of deliberately misleading parliament by saying he was unaware of plans to amend the laws covering evictions.
A leaked cabinet document showed otherwise but a bid by the Greens to bring on a noconfidence motion failed. On Thursday, Ms Ogilvie said she would back any motion for a debate about confidence in Mr Jaensch.
However, she had not decided whether she would back the minister at its conclusion.
“I have carefully considered the matter and I am inclined to support allowing the debate,” she said.
“I have also had the benefit
of receiving correspondence which has provided further context. Tasmanians can be assured that I will consider all the facts and circumstances before voting on a substantive motion .”
Liberal members hold 13 of the 25 seats in the House of Assembly. If Labor, the Green sand Ms Ogilvieba ck a motion, it will still need the deciding vote of the Speaker to pass.
A spokesman for Speaker Sue Hickey said she had pledged to support the government on matters of confidence. However, as chair woman of the parliament’s privileges committee, it would be inappropriate for her to comment further.
Opposition Leader Rebecca White said the matter of whether parliament retained confidence in Mr Ja en sch was not settled.
“Today marks two weeks since Roger Jaensch lied to the parliament, and he hasn’t yet been held accountable for that breach by his own Premier ,” she said. “There’s been a clear breach of the ministerial code of conduct. I wrote to the Premier over a week ago asking him to do an investigation.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t had a response from the Premier to that letter and there’ s been no action taken.”
A government spokeswoman said: “The minister has done nothing wrong and has the government’ s full support .”
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said: “We’ve made it clear we’ll be moving no-confidence in a dishonest minister on the first day back, so the question of whether or not the House has confidence in Minister Jaensch can be resolved. If Labor wants to go first, that’s fine with us. The important thing is that we have the debate and vote .”
Convention under the Westminster system requires that ministers resign or be sacked after seriously and deliberately misleading parliament.