Tasmanian Greens leader Nick McKim has rejected an offer from Premier David Bartlett to join the Labor cabinet, and has instead asked Mr Bartlett to make a ministry offer which ``better reflects the will of the Tasmanian people''.
Mr Bartlett offered Mr McKim a position on the front bench on Friday after the March 20 election delivered a hung parliament.
Mr McKim said the Greens' party room had decided that having only one Greens member in cabinet was unacceptable.
``It fails to provide for stable government in the current circumstances,'' he told reporters in Hobart this afternoon.
In a letter to Mr Bartlett, Mr McKim said the offer of only one ministry to the Greens would not deliver optimal government stability and urged Mr Bartlett to make a ``more reasonable offer'' by noon tomorrow.
Mr McKim's letter to Mr Bartlett:
Dear David,
It is with deep regret that I write to inform you that I am unable to accept your offer of a Ministry at this stage.
It is a great personal honour to have received your invitation, however, as I am sure you would agree, it does not reflect in any way the will of the Tasmanian people expressed on 20 March. In the context of the model that you have proposed, it also does not provide for the stability of government that the Tasmanian people expect and deserve.
I acknowledge the good faith and genuine intent with which you and Deputy Premier Lara Giddings conducted yourselves throughout our recent discussions. The model which was the result of those discussions, while not the Greens' preferred model, could have provided a framework for the inclusion of Greens' ministers in your Cabinet with a small number of improvements, which I have no doubt could have been achieved had our discussion not been curtailed by the time limits you imposed.
A strong and experienced Cabinet is crucial to stability and good governance. Your offer of a single ministry to the Greens does not, in our view, provide for the most capable, workable and stable Cabinet given the options available to you.
Having only one Green MP in the Cabinet would, again in our view, make it more difficult to fulfil the requirement set out in the proposed model that any Greens' ministers use their best endeavours to deliver Green party room support for Cabinet decisions.
I believe it would be unrealistic for me to expect my four colleagues to consistently support decisions that only I have been involved in making. Your offer of only one Cabinet position to the Greens therefore is less likely to deliver Parliamentary support for Cabinet decisions than a Cabinet that more closely reflects the composition of the proposed working majority on the floor of the House. Your offer, in our view, therefore fails to deliver optimal government stability in the circumstances.
Therefore, in order to best deliver a strong, working majority on the floor of the House to support Cabinet decisions, it would be preferable for you to make an offer to the Greens that better reflects the will of the Tasmanian people.
I wish to make it clear that if you are able to make a more reasonable offer that reflects the will of the Tasmanian people and provides for greater government stability, my party room would of course be prepared to consider it.
Could you please indicate to me by midday tomorrow whether you are in a position to make such an offer?
I again confirm the Greens' willingness to work constructively and cooperatively to deliver good governance and stable to the Tasmania people by working with all Members in the new Parliament.
David, I believe there has been a significant rebuilding of mutual respect between us over the course of the past week. It is my genuine wish that in the interests of Tasmania and its people that this can continue.
Thank you again for your offer. I look forward to your woking with you in the future in the interests of the Tasmanian people.
Yours sincerely,
Nick McKim.
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