Peter Gutwein resignation: It’s a tough gig to juggle work-life demands

Peter Gutwein announces his resignation as Premier in Launceston on Monday. Picture: Alex Treacy

If Peter Gutwein’s sudden departure proves anything, it’s that being premier and treasurer while managing a shapeshifting pandemic is too much for any one person for any length of time.

Tough and tattooed former publican though he is, Tasmania’s 46th Premier was clearly under enormous strain.

Mainlanders may scoff. Tasmania is a small state. However, it has all the issues facing other jurisdictions – and then some, peculiar to its unique history, sociology and geography.

As Treasurer, he had to grapple with the balance between buying his way out of a Covid slump with returning the state to worsening debt and deficit.

As Premier, he presided over a team with a gulf bigger than Bass Strait between a few experienced, sharp senior players and those making up the numbers.

He was also Tourism Minister; highlighting the vital nature of the industry to Tasmania, and its vulnerability to Covid.

Gutwein’s health scare in August, apparently due to sheer overwork, underlined the taxing nature of having so many balls in the air. From Launceston, he was frustrated at seeing so little of his family – wife Mandy and two teenagers – while dealing with affairs of state in Hobart.

Spending seven days at home in Covid-isolation in March crystallised to him the life he was missing. It was, he said on Monday, his longest continuous presence at home for two years.

Whoever is his successor – most likely senior minister Michael Ferguson unless Deputy Premier Jeremy Rockliff has changed his mind about leadership – will need to reflect carefully. The worst of the pandemic may be behind us, but this is not guaranteed.

Being both treasurer and premier provides a clear fiscal and policy vision with a strong, single leadership to counter bureaucratic inertia and internal squabbles.

However, with the added demands of the virus, something may have to give. In recent weeks, Rockliff, the Health Minister, had been handling more Covid-related duties. That trend may need to continue.

Internally, a leadership team that balances moderates and conservatives is essential. It’s early days – colleagues are still shell-shocked – but that probably means Ferguson-Rockliff.