20 AILEEN ASHFORD wanted to extend her contract as the state's Commissioner for Children in February but then resigned suddenly in April with six months of her contract to run. She said she was frustrated by the limitations of the role. The government didn't start looking for a replacement until November.
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19 NICK McKIM had a busy time with his education and prisons portfolios throwing up plenty of controversial issues during 2013. The Greens leader and government minister seemed to enjoy the criticisms from friends (like Brenton Best) and foes (like Michael Ferguson) alike.
18 KADE KOLODJASHNIJ provided television and radio reporters with a pronunciation challenge as he was snapped up by the Gold Coast Suns at number five in the AFL draft. And there was no relief when his Launceston teammate and twin brother JAKE went to Geelong at pick 41.
17 MIKE BROWN had to hose down criticism of the Tasmanian Fire Service and cop 103 recommendations from the January bushfire inquiry. As conditions in the state threatened another potentially disastrous fire season, the TFS chief officer called on landholders to be better prepared.
16 CHRISTINE MILNE had her predecessor BOB BROWN looking over her shoulder as she tackled Tony Abbott on the scrapping of the Climate Change Authority and the Climate Commission and attacked the government's asylum seeker policy.
15 JAN DAVIS continued to fight for the state's farmers as chief executive of the TFGA and even found time to stand up for members of the Legislative Council who had been criticised by the government for failing to get through a backlog of government legislation.
14 TIM ELLIS, the Tasmania's Director of Public Prosecutions, was suspended from duty while a charge of causing death by negligent driving against him is dealt with. The state's two most senior magistrates declined to hear the case before magistrate Chris Webster made himself available.
13 BEAUTIDE's win in the $750,000 Miracle Mile at Menangle in November was the biggest all-Tasmanian triumph in a feature horse race, of either code, in almost 50 years.
12 BRENTON BEST started his latest attack on his party's accord with the Greens by crossing the floor of State Parliament to vote with the Liberal opposition on a no-confidence motion in Education Minister Nick McKim. The maverick Braddon Labor MMA then suggested Premier Lara Giddings should quit.
11 WILL HODGMAN spent another year as the state's most popular political leader and perennial premier-in-waiting. There was sadness in June with the death of his father MICHAEL although the state funeral for the senior Hodgman was a celebration of the life of a popular federal and state politician.
TOMORROW: THE TOP 10
