Last Liberal rule left on brink as Tasmanian attorney-general Elise Archer quits

Australia’s last Liberal government is in chaos after Tasmanian Attorney-General Elise Archer quit, as she in leaked messages appeared to describe a former premier as ‘a liar’ and a male minister as ‘shit’.

Elise Archer quit hours after it was revealed she faced an investigation over bullying allegations. Picture: Chris Kidd

Australia’s last Liberal government is in chaos after Tasmanian Attorney-General Elise Archer quit the party and parliament in the wake of bullying allegations and leaked expletive-laden texts.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff is seeking advice on whether parliament will need to be prorogued to avoid a successful Labor no-­confidence motion before Ms Archer’s replacement is elected via recount.

Ms Archer’s resignation came hours after The Australian on Thursday revealed she faced an investigation over bullying allegations and appeared to have attacked the Premier, colleagues and staff in leaked text messages.

The Australian on Friday morning put a fresh round of new leaked WhatsApp messages to Ms Archer. In these, she appears to describe former premier Will Hodgman as “a liar”, a female minister as unsupportive of women, a departmental secretary as “f..king useless” and a male minister as “shit”.

Mr Rockliff said he sought Ms Archer’s resignation to send a message about acceptable ­“culture”.

“I won’t stand for a culture of belittling and a culture whereby people are not valued and respected for the work that they do and indeed for the people they are,” he said.

The Premier denied his government was falling apart, despite Ms Archer’s loss coming on top of the defection in May of two Liberals to the crossbench.

Until a replacement for Ms Archer is elected on recount, the government will have just 10 seats out of 25 in the state’s House of Assembly. It can count on 12 votes if the two former Liberal independents continue to provide promised confidence – one short of a majority.

The recount – almost certain to elect Liberal Simon Behrakis – appears unlikely to be completed before parliament is due to resume on October 17.

Labor has made it clear it has no confidence in the government, while the government cannot rely on the Greens or other progressive crossbenchers.

“It took the front page of a newspaper for Jeremy Rockliff to take any action at all … which speaks to his weak leadership,” said Labor frontbencher Dean Winter.

“The government is disintegrating before our very eyes … It’s highly likely they are going to need to prorogue the parliament once again.”

Mr Rockliff, understood to have initially been unaware Ms Archer was leaving parliament as well as cabinet, said he became aware of further comments she had made, in addition to those reported by The Australian on Thursday.

“Those remarks are unacceptable by any standard and unequivocally fall short of expectations for a minister of the crown,” he said.

The new leaked WhatsApp texts followed SMS messages already revealed by The Australian in which Ms Archer appeared to label Mr Rockliff “too gutless to be leader” and his predecessor Peter Gutwein as having a “glass jaw”, while criticising a female MP’s love life.

The Australian has also become aware that Ms Archer, who had hired a high-powered SC, was refusing to co-operate with the inquiry into her alleged conduct on the basis that she had not been provided sufficient detail. Ms Archer, 52, who was the nation’s highest ranking female Liberal officeholder, on Friday attacked Mr Rockliff.

“It is clear to me that the leadership of the Liberal Party continues to fail to support ambitious women,” she said.

“It takes incredible strength and resilience to be a woman in a senior government role and to strive to be treated the same as male colleagues, despite many years of dedicated, hardworking service.”

Ms Archer declined to comment on the text messages that appear to have been sent by her.

It is understood her husband, Dale, a former Liberal state president, has also quit the party in disgust.