In 2016, Ms Armitage asked the state government for figures on board membership for Government Business Enterprises and state-owned companies.

The government provided her with an answer in March 2017.

As of October 14, 2016, a total of 19 GBE board members were from the south, 12 were from interstate, one was from the north and one was from the north-west.

Meanwhile, 23 state-owned company board members were from the south, 14 were from interstate, eight were from the north and one was from the north-west.

Ms Armitage said board representation needed to be less “heavily weighted” to the south and the mainland.

“I know these are skills-based boards, but we have a lot of skill in our state,” she said.

“And I’m sure we have a lot of skill in the north as well.

“If we don’t have representation on some of these boards, how can we get a say in what’s happening?”

Mersey MLC Michael Gaffney agreed that Tasmania needed a greater representation on government business and state-owned company boards.

“It always concerns me that we look elsewhere,” Mr Gaffney said.

But he did not think north and north-west representation necessarily needed to be in line with southern representation.

A government spokesperson said greater north and north-west representation was something the government was pursuing for its GBE and company boards.

However, the spokesperson noted that it was of greater importance that board members were highly qualified “regardless of where they lived”.

A number of GBEs and state-owned companies were contacted for comment.

Hydro Tasmania and TasNetworks declined to comment, while Tasmanian Irrigation could not be reached for comment.