Tasmanian Independents Guarantee Confidence and Supply to Liberal Government
Two Tasmanian independents, David O'Byrne and Kristie Johnston, have agreed to provide confidence and supply to the Liberal minority government. This means they will support the government in confidence motions and on budget bills, but will retain the right to vote as they wish on other matters.
The agreements follow a similar deal reached with the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) earlier. With the support of these independents, the Liberal government now has 19 of the 35 votes needed to pass legislation in the Tasmanian Parliament.
Both O'Byrne and Johnston will be able to vote against the government on no-confidence motions related to corruption or gross portfolio mismanagement. They will also have more access to departmental staff, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, and resources for their day-to-day duties.
In return, Premier Jeremy Rockliff has agreed to remove "Dorothy dixer" questions from Question Time and replace them with constituent questions. He has also committed to reviewing the Integrity Commission and Right to Information processes.
The agreements with O'Byrne and Johnston differ from the deal with the JLN in several ways. The JLN members are required to give the government 24 hours' notice before voting against it and must support the government on procedural motions. They also have more restrictions on their ability to vote against the government "on the fly" during debates.
Constitutional law specialist Anne Twomey has described the limits on JLN members as "pretty extreme" and said the party has given up its strong negotiating position. However, these types of deals are not legally binding and only have political ramifications if they fail.
The Tasmanian Parliament will return on May 14. Premier Rockliff has expressed confidence that the parliament can function productively with the support of the independents.