Hickey-Archer tensions mount

A HISTORIC spat between the Speaker and the Attorney-General threatened to resurface in Parliament yesterday — until Sue Hickey blocked Labor’s push to have it discussed.

Ms Hickey on Tuesday suggested internal politics had prevented her from presenting to Cabinet her short-term solution to Hobart’s growing housing crisis.

“I was told that … the Premier was supportive (of my idea) and they would need to internally manage some people,” Ms Hickey told the Mercury.

“Clearly internal politics overtaken common sense.”

Opposition Leader Rebecca White yesterday tried to ask the Government whether it was Attorney-General Elise Archer who was blocking Ms Hickey’s ideas — but the Speaker, upon consultation with the Clerk, ordered Labor ask a different question.

Ms Archer was visibly shocked at Labor’s line of questioning, as were her Liberal colleagues.

The Attorney-General left the Lower House immediately after has question time. Speaking yesterday, Ms Hickey said she had blocked the question because she had no evidence Ms Archer was blocking her from presenting to Cabinet.

“What I was told was that internal politics would need to be managed,” she said.

Asked if she believed that was a reference to Ms Archer, Ms Hickey said: “I’d prefer not to comment.”

The rivalry between Ms Archer and Ms Hickey is well-known. The pair had a run-in at a private event at the Taste of Tasmania in 2009 that had Ms Hickey lodge a police report alleging Ms Archer had grabbed her elbow.

The troubled relationship between the pair was again highlighted when Ms Hickey seized the speakership last year — a role once held by Ms Archer. Ms Hickey’s sensational coup against her Liberal colleagues saw Ms Archer forced to deny calling the Clark MP a “treacherous” “bitch”.

Elise Archer