Retired Tasmanian politician Rene Hidding reflects on his career

There was no farewell speech in the House of Assembly where he spent 23 years and few open tributes from political colleagues and adversaries.

The long-serving MHA in February became the target of an historical sexual abuse allegation which he strenuously denied and argued was linked to an ongoing family dispute with his accuser.

An investigation by Tasmania Police was eventually dropped after seven long months.

During that time, Mr Hidding went to ground and focused on his wife, his children and his grandchildren who were deeply hurt by the allegations.

The issue made national news through an initial story in The Australian which did not name Mr Hidding but left little doubt that it was he who was the accused.

Mr Hidding, in his first interview with the media since the story broke, said he was still considering his legal position with regards to the story.

"This will take some time to move forward and I will be considering matters over the summer period," he said.

It was an unfortunate end to Mr Hidding's distinguished and colourful political career and for a man who was well respected even by political opponents.

His political career started where many do - in local government.

The Launceston City Council in 1985 had amalgamated with two small neighbouring councils which triggered an election for a new council.

With encouragement from his father, Mr Hidding ran for a seat, won, and held a position at the table for seven years.

His time on the council won the attention of the Liberal Party and led former Bass MHR Warwick Smith to tap him on the shoulder and suggest he have a tilt at federal politics to replace retiring Lyons member Max Burr.

His run for the seat was aided by a relatively high profile in rural Tasmania through the family building and hardware business but it was not enough to fight off Labor candidate Dick Adams.

Mr Hidding said although he didn't get elected, he scored a decent amount of votes and was buoyed by a sense of momentum.

This meant he did not have to think too long about a run at state politics when an election was called three years later.

He was voted in as part of a Liberal minority government with the balance of power in Parliament held by the Greens.

The Liberals were aware of the damage co-operative government could cause them, having won the 1992 election after the implosion of a formal arrangement with Labor and the Greens in 1989.

"Conventional wisdom back then was you would not formalise anything after that and just leave it to the process - on the floor of the house," Mr Hidding said.

"Essentially, it was a day-by-day government."

He said the Liberals and the Greens were committed to making the situation work for the full term though nerves began to fray at the two-year mark.

"There was a nervousness that at any given time (Greens leader) Christine Milne might choose that she'd have enough and sandbag us on the floor of the house with a no-confidence motion," Mr Hidding said.

"(Premier) Tony Rundle was waiting for any indication that this might be on."

Mr Hidding said the two were in Sheffield one day listening to an interview on ABC radio with Ms Milne which heightened anxieties over the government's future.

He said the interview perturbed Mr Rundle so much that he decided then and there an early election needed to be called.

"With the benefit of hindsight, the decision he made to go early was patently the wrong decision and still has ramifications now in Tasmania," Mr Hidding said.

"Christine Milne has told me on numerous occasions that we had it wrong and they had no intention at all of doing anything.

"They in fact wanted to prove to Tasmanians that they could be a reliable partner for four years."

He said the Liberals were 80 per cent through a process to reform local government which was likely to result in a reduction to 11 councils - nine mainland Tasmanian councils and councils on King Island and Flinders Island.

"So local government reform didn't happen, it hasn't happened since and it won't happen in my view," Mr Hidding said.

Instead of dissolving Parliament and making a visit to the governor, Mr Rundle recalled Parliament for one final piece of business.

Labor leader Jim Bacon had introduced a bill to Parliament sometime beforehand which called for the House of Assembly's numbers to be reduced from 35 to 25 members.

Mr Hidding said Mr Bacon was encouraged to bring on the bill by the Liberals and they voted for it in an attempt to wipe the Greens from Parliament.

"It felt wrong at the time and it felt even worse when we were in Opposition and Peg Putt walked into Parliament because I realised then that if she got back, they'd all be back," he said.

Mr Hidding said there was negative community sentiment about the decision to reduce numbers over the 1998 election campaign with many forming the view that the two major parties had colluded to prevent another political party from ever holding a seat.

"Not only did we fail to get rid of the Greens, we got rid of 10 members from the house," he said.

"It was a bad outcome. It deformed the Parliament."

Mr Hidding said while the House of Assembly was workable but could work better and the power once held parliamentary committees had been diminished.

Several senior government members tended resignations before and after the party's bruising election result.

The outcome was not made any easier for the party with internal frictions and hostility, particularly marked by a leadership war between then leader Sue Napier and future leader Bob Cheek.

Mr Cheek eventually got to lead the party and take it to an election.

Mr Hidding said the 2002 result confirmed the party had hit rock bottom.