Former Tasmanian premier Lara Giddings leaves a legacy as a groundbreaker

EDITORIAL: Lara Giddings may walk away from politics at the next election but she leaves a legacy as a groundbreaker.

Lara Giddings will leave a legacy as a groundbreaker.~

LARA Giddings may walk away from politics at the next election but she leaves a legacy as a groundbreaker.

Larissa Tahireh Giddings has been a guiding light for women, and especially young women, in Tasmanian politics since her election in the seat of Lyons in 1996, at the age of just 23.

After losing the seat in 1998 she relocated to Franklin and won a seat at the 2002 election.

Ms Giddings became the first female premier of Tasmania in January 2011 after serving in most ministerial portfolios in preceding years, including as treasurer and attorney-general.

It was a turbulent time in Tasmanian politics as she led a minority government in a hung Parliament after the global financial crisis.

While her rise to the position of premier broke the glass ceiling which had previously faced women in politics, it was somewhat overshadowed by the achievement of Julia Gillard, Australia’s first female prime minister, who held office from 2010 to 2013.

Former Mercury chief political reporter Wayne Crawford said Ms Giddings was well liked and very approachable but could be tough as nails.

“She made her mark as health minister, trying to implement a plan for there to be three major hospitals in Tasmania rather than four,” he said.

Soon after becoming premier in 2011, Ms Giddings spoke about the difficulties of breaking into the boys’ club running the state.

“I felt that I was always one conversation behind and wondered where these conversations were going on between men that meant I would only get to hear what was going on later,” she said.

Mr Crawford said Ms Giddings faced a lot of hostile opposition and famously confronted Howard Government health minister Tony Abbott over the Mersey Hospital issue.

Australia’s first two Greens ministers, Nick McKim and Cassy O’Connor, had been appointed by her predecessor as premier, David Bartlett, and Ms Giddings kept them in her Cabinet, which ultimately backfired in electoral terms, with Labor punished at the 2014 election.

Mr Crawford believes Ms Giddings showed great dedication to politics even at significant personal cost.

“She was the first of a new generation of women who was prepared to sacrifice personal life to advocate political and social issues,’’ he said.

Ms Giddings had longstanding convictions on a number of justice and social issues which marked her career. She introduced voluntary euthanasia bills to Parliament, was an ongoing advocate of allowing the use of medicinal cannabis to ease suffering and was a supporter of marriage equality.

In 2013, she and Mr McKim tabled a joint private members’ euthanasia bill based on “the values of compassion, respect for human dignity, and freedom of choice”. And an apology was made to women who had been forced to have their babies adopted at birth, with the babies removed from their mothers.

Thanks to Ms Giddings, a generation of women will grow up knowing that leading this state is a truly achievable dream.