FORMER Tasmanian premier Robin Gray leans against the verandah rail and gazes out across the green lushness of the North-East valley where he spends as much time as he can.
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He pauses mid-sentence and frowns.
The conversation has taken a turn serious enough for the one-time Liberal premier known as a strong leader and skilled political tactician to be distracted from his farming exploits on show in the valley beyond the cottage deck.
``I can't believe the mess that we are in,'' he says.
``It's as bad (in Tasmania) as I could imagine.
``You ask yourself what would you do, where will the money come from - she (Premier Lara Giddings) hasn't got any left.''
Mr Gray gathers his thoughts.
He was not often without a bold plan during 20 years as a state politician from the late 1970s - nothing has changed.
He has rarely spoken publicly since he resigned as Tasmanian Liberal leader on December 17, 1991, and left politics four years later.
Mr Gray returned to his agri-business life of pre-politics and moved on.
But the wily political strategist still takes a keen interest in the affairs of state and has a plan if anyone wants to listen.
In the same week that Tasmanian Treasurer and Premier Lara Giddings handed down her second budget, Mr Gray said that the state desperately needed an election.
Earlier in the week he urged Legislative Council members to meet Ms Giddings to obtain a firm election date within the next three months.
He said that MLCs should withhold supply until they had a committed election date.
``The Labor-Green government has no mandate - (former premier) David Bartlett said that there would be no deal with the Greens but within a few days one was hatched,'' he says.
``He left government without any plausible explanation - Ms Giddings certainly can't claim a mandate.''
Mr Gray blames the Labor-Green minority government for the state's economic crisis.
``Tasmania is now bogged down in an economic mire,'' he says.
``No amount of talking up the state is going to stop the problem getting worse.
``Tasmania now has a reputation for being a bad place to do business.''
He says that it was important for a governments to talk up the economy but that time was past for Tasmania.
``Major industries are closing down or planning to leave, small businesses are battling to stay afloat,'' he says.
``The Spirit of Tasmania is full of furniture vans moving Tasmanians to the mainland.
``Gunns, Temco and Beaconsfield Gold are planning to leave.
``Other major industries are reviewing their operations because of excessive electricity and water charges, freight problems and the iniquitous carbon tax.
``And the government in Canberra is slashing our funds as they did in the 1980s.''
Mr Gray believes that the state needs a total review of its parliamentary system as well as an immediate election.
``There can be no return to investor confidence until there is a complete overhaul of our Parliament and electoral system,'' he says.
``The Hare Clark system is not appropriate for the 21st century. A House of Assembly with only 25 members is a farce and was the act of a desperate premier trying to hold on to power when he too had no mandate.
``The savings in members' salaries were more than offset by increases in the unelected ministerial and members' staffs and the public service.''
Mr Gray says that Tasmania has as many ministries as other states but only a third the number of ministers.
``They are unable to properly administer their portfolios - legislation passes the House without proper scrutiny,'' he says.
Despite his, at times, strident criticism of the Labor-Green government, Mr Gray says that he is not against all minority governments.
``But the only time that minority government works is when you have people of like mind working with you,'' he says.
Legislative Council members should have a greater role in government, Mr Gray says.
``We should consolidate our Parliament into one chamber comprising 30 members of the House of Assembly and the 15 members of the Legislative Council,'' he says.
``House of Assembly elections should be based on the Legislative Council boundaries, with each electorate electing two members of the grouping which polls the most two-party-preferred votes.''
If that was not a preferred community option, single-member electorates should be considered, he says.
``Separate votes could be still maintained but there would be much more informed scrutiny and better intellectual property,'' he says.
Mr Gray would have 15 ministers drawn from both the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly in his reformed Parliament.
``More responsibility should be returned to the Parliament instead of held by faceless, unelected bureaucrats and commissions,'' he says.
Mr Gray believes that the state hasn't had a stable government for more than 20 years except for Labor premier Jim Bacon's time in office.
``He was positive, he didn't talk the economy down, but it was a different situation,'' Mr Gray says.
``He had things like irrigation and other infrastructure here that he could do something with.
``The (three) Spirits of Tasmania were running, the salmon industry was growing, there were things able to happen - now we are facing threatened closures everywhere.''
He believes that government needs to be ``very'' clear about its role.
``The role of government is to support and promote industry,'' he says.
``I look back and see (Bob) Clifford (of Incat) - he built the first catamaran with a government guarantee provided by me.
``The salmon industry had a major investment from us to start with. We got new industries going. Most are still around. It won't happen if government is not giving total encouragement.''