Who has been the best Tasmanian Premier of the 21st century?
Since 2000, seven Premiers have run the state, through Covid, industry booms and busts and scandals in the rank. Have your say on who was the best and fairest of them all >>>>
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With Tasmanians still playing the waiting game to learn the final results of the 2025 election, the Mercury invites readers to pass the time by voting for the Best Premier of the 21st Century.
Jim Bacon 1998-2004
Leading Labor to victory at the 1998 state election over the Tony Rundle-led Liberals – then claiming a second-consecutive majority win in 2002 – Jim Bacon oversaw an unprecedented turnaround in Tasmania’s economic fortunes during his time in office.
Mr Bacon’s achievements during his five and a half years as premier included a dramatic fall in Tasmania’s unemployment rate, booms in the tourism and real estate sectors, new passenger ferry services to mainland Australia, and record population numbers.
While his appointment of avowed republican, Richard Butler, as Tasmanian Governor was a notable lowlight, Mr Bacon remained popular with voters up to the time of his shock health revelation in January, 2004.
A smoker of 35 years, the premier announced he was stepping down from the “job of his life” to battle lung inoperable cancer – and urged other tobacco users to quit while still had time.
Mr Bacon died just five months later, at the age of 54, with his state funeral in Hobart attended by 2000 mourners including Prime Minister John Howard and former prime minister Gough Whitlam.
Paul Lennon 2004-2008
First elected to the House of Assembly in 1990 on recount following the retirement of former Labor leader, Ken Wriedt, Mr Lennon became premier in 2004 upon the resignation of close friend, Jim Bacon.
Affectionately known as Big Red, Mr Lennon’s four-year premiership was dominated by his unswerving support of timber giant Gunns’ contentious proposal to build a pulp mill in the Tamar Valley.
While Premier Lennon won praise for introducing a compensation scheme for Tasmania’s Stolen Generation, his time in office was also marked by the departure of two deputy premiers in highly controversial circumstances, and public anger over his acceptance of Crown Casino hospitality during government negotiations with affiliated business, Betfair.
After leading Labor to its third-straight election victory in 2006, and seemingly on track to serve another full term as the member for Franklin, 52-year-old Mr Lennon shocked many in the political establishment when he resigned from the top job – and politics altogether – in May, 2008.
David Bartlett 2008-2011
Entering parliament on a recount in 2004 after the resignation of Jim Bacon, Mr Bartlett had been deputy premier of Tasmania for just weeks in 2008 when thrust into the top role following Mr Lennon’s departure.
An IT expert and the first Generation X occupant of the premier’s office, Mr Bartlett established an integrity commission to deal with public sector misconduct; articulated an ambitious goal for the state’s farms to become the national “food bowl”; and successfully lobbied for Tasmania to have the National Broadband Network rolled out first.
Following a deadlocked 2010 election result in which Liberal and Labor both won 10 seats in the 25-member lower house, Mr Bartlett entered a formal coalition with the Greens and granted its leader, Nick McKim, a position in cabinet.
Less than a year later – and just 32 months after being sworn in as premier – Mr Bartlett announced his resignation from the state’s highest office, saying he wanted to spend more time with his wife, and their two young children.
Lara Giddings 2011-2014
The youngest woman to be elected to an Australian parliament as a 23-year-old in 1996, Lara Giddings went on to become Tasmania’s first female premier following the resignation of David Bartlett.
The state’s 44th leader pushed for the introduction of euthanasia laws in the state, and later described her 2012 apology to the thousands of Tasmanians affected by the government’s past forced adoptions policies as the most significant moment of her time in power.
Ms Giddings’ decision to boot all Greens ministers from her cabinet – and declare the two parties’ alliance as dead – just weeks before the 2014 state poll proved too little, too late with her government’s resounding defeat proving the final act in Labor’s 16-year reign.
The political trailblazer, who remained in parliament until the 2018 election, is an inductee of the Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2024 Australia Day Honours for “distinguished service to the people and Parliament of Tasmania, and to the community”.
Will Hodgman 2014-2020
A scion of Tasmania’s most prominent political dynasty, Will Hodgman served a marathon eight-year stint as opposition leader before storming into office at the 2014 state election.
Four years later, Premier Hodgman secured back-to-back victories for the Liberals, with his record 27,184 first preference votes in Franklin enough to be elected twice.
As Premier, Mr Hodgman hosted Chinese president Xi Jinping on a high-profile visit to Tasmania, and delivered an apology to the LGBTI community for the state’s anti-gay criminal laws.
Arguably the biggest political challenge of Mr Hodgman’s career came from within his own party, when rookie Liberal MP Sue Hickey blindsided her boss to become speaker of the House of Assembly with the backing of Labor and the Greens.
Mr Hodgman stepped down from the job in January 2020 as Tasmania’s longest-serving premier since Robin Gray.
Peter Gutwein 2020-2022
Just weeks after succeeding Will Hodgman as Liberal leader and premier, Peter Gutwein was faced with a global health crisis that threatened the very future of the island state.
The Covid-19 pandemic – and the Tasmanian government’s responses to it – would define Mr Gutwein’s relatively brief premiership, with his decision to close the state’s borders the first of many guided by the express outcome of saving as many lives as possible.
Months of decisions about social distancing restrictions, lockdowns, mask use, and vaccination rollouts took their toll, with the premier briefly hospitalised with exhaustion in August 2021.
The following April, Mr Gutwein suddenly resigned, saying he had “nothing left in the tank” and expressing a need to reunite with his family.
After leaving office and parliament, the 20-year member for Bass admitted the 26 months he spent inside the premier’s suite felt more like a decade.
Jeremy Rockliff 2022-present
The potato farmer turned pollie entered parliament at the 2002 election, and served as deputy premier under Will Hodgman then Peter Gutwein for a total of eight years, before taking on the top role himself in 2022.
Mr Rockliff’s three years in the job have been dominated by Tasmania’s bid to secure a 19th licence from the AFL, and his government’s ongoing push to build a Devils’ home stadium at Macquarie Point.
The state’s 47th premier has experienced more than his share of political intrigue over the journey: losing party members to the crossbench; cutting deals with independent MPs to keep his minority government in power; and earlier this year suffering a no-confidence motion against him on the floor of parliament.
But despite calls for him to stand aside, Mr Rockliff successfully requested a new election, and after again winning the most seats in a hung parliament, said he would ask Governor Barbara Baker to recommission his government.
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Originally published as Who has been the best Tasmanian Premier of the 21st century?
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