Tasmania politics: Mac Point delivers more sparkling political mayhem

That accursed land at Mac Point is our answer to the Bermuda Triangle not just for big dreams and piles of public money — but now perhaps for premiers, even entire governments, writes David Killick >>

For about 40 minutes on Thursday night, it looked a little like the Rockliff government might be circling the drain.

That ‘transparency’ word came back to haunt the Liberals. An angry parliament held the executive to account.

The irony is that what brought the Libs to the edge of the abyss might not have been actual obfuscation, but a perception that it is the sort of thing they’d try.

Wherever did folk get that idea?

Like all good Tasmanian political mayhem, Thursday night’s sparkling political mayhem had its genesis at the Macquarie Point.

That accursed land is our answer to the Bermuda Triangle not just for big dreams, careers and piles of public money — but now perhaps for premiers, even entire governments.

Attempting to meet a demand and a deadline, Premier Jeremy Rockliff tabled a bunch of documents about the stadium after question time, a few more later in the day.

But was something missing?

What well-ordered government would launch into a billion-dollar project without getting Treasury or the Department of State Growth to run a ruler over it and provide some advice in writing?

Ours apparently.

Tasmanian Parliament, Premier Jeremy Rockliff. Picture: Chris Kidd

Labor had a sniff of an advice-shaped document lurking in the shadows that Mr Rockliff hadn’t stumped up.

It was, allegedly, an “email exchange between Treasury and Department of Premier and Cabinet officers. Some “opinion and advice prepared by an officer of Treasury in the course of deliberative processes”. It was “related to the official business of Treasury.”

Exempt from RTI, but not exempt from the parliamentary motion perhaps?

The vote to adjourn debate on the budget bills was a serious move. It’s the sort of thing that can topple Premiers on a bad day.

After a 40-minute break, Mr Rockliff swore he’d produced everything he could, and the email chain did not constitute advice and there was a bunch of stuff that was cabinet-in-confidence.

Nobody seemed much convinced — but the parliamentary uprising fizzled out. For now.

Taking Mr Rockliff’s explanation at face value, the government’s biggest problem is not a lack of transparency — it’s a lack of trust.

There will be more days like Thursday. Minority government is a tough time to try to dispel perceptions after a decade in office.

Nine years in power is enough time for people to decide whether there’s genuine transparency in your DNA or not.