Respect the will of the people

Retiring Liberal MP Rene Hidding is entitled to the presumption of innocence, just as his accuser is entitled to make a complaint with police and expect it is properly investigated.

Rene Hidding

RETIRING Liberal MP Rene Hidding is entitled to the presumption of innocence, just as his accuser is entitled to make a complaint with police and expect it is properly investigated.

These are two of the key tenets that our legal system is built on. They are designed to work together to ensure claims of wrongdoing are properly tested — so the community can have confidence in the punishment handed out by our courts.

MORE:

HIDDING RESIGNATION A NEW HEADACHE FOR HODGMAN

HIDDING SAYS HE WILL FIGHT TO CLEAR HIS NAME

ACCUSER SAYS EARLIER CLAIMS ‘NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY’

WHO IS LIKELY TO REPLACE RENE HIDDING?

There are important conventions also in place in our Parliament — conventions designed to ensure the will of the people is respected on the floor of our key democratic institution. One of these conventions is the concept of a “pair” — an informal arrangement between the government and opposition parties where an MP agrees to abstain from voting while an MP from the other party is absent due to other commitments.

This should be Labor’s response to this crisis, should the Tasmanian Electoral Commission determine — as seems likely — that the replacement on a recount for Mr Hidding is the Liberal candidate John Tucker.

The challenge is the timing. The last recount — for Braddon, following this month’s resignation of Adam Brooks — took exactly two weeks to complete, with the formal declaration coming late yesterday. The successful candidate, Liberal Joan Rylah, will now need to be sworn in — adding another few days to the process. Political analyst Kevin Bonham meanwhile says he believes the nature of Mr Hidding’s vote in Lyons at the last election means the recount could take even longer than the one just completed in Braddon.

State Parliament is due to sit again in exactly two weeks from today. It’s all on a knife-edge. Indeed, there is every chance the Government could find itself with just 11 votes on the floor of the 25-seat Lower House. Labor and the Greens have 12 votes. Liberal Speaker Sue Hickey is the 25th MP and the 12th right now on the Government side, but her vote is only cast in the event of a tie.

The temptation would be there, then, for Labor and the Greens to take political advantage of the moment in time that potentially will exist between Parliament sitting again and the new Liberal MP taking their seat.

They could potentially break the “pairs” convention (there is no rule that would stop them) and combine forces to pass any vote on any topic they want — including that of confidence, a result that would technically bring down the Government.

But any such shenanigans would be a mistake. Assuming that, between now and then, Mr Tucker — who is currently a Break O’Day councillor — indicates his willingness to be available to sit in State Parliament, the will of the people is clear: a Parliament with 13 Liberal MPs (when you include Ms Hickey).

The Mercury would therefore call on Labor and the Greens to act with maturity and today grant the Liberals a “pair” should that be required while the recount is conducted by the trusted and independent Tasmanian Electoral Commission. Should that recount — somehow — deliver a win for Labor or the Greens, then all bets are well and truly off. Until then, however, all fair-minded Tasmanians would expect that common sense prevails.