For Will Hodgman, it's been a year.
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Two ministers in the Premier's Cabinet, Rene Hidding and Adam Brooks, resigned under controversial circumstances.
Rogue Speaker Sue Hickey continually thwarted Hodgman's legislative agenda.
Scrutiny of the state's beleaguered health system only got more intense, and former health minister Michael Ferguson was replaced by Sarah Courtney in a June Cabinet reshuffle.
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Somehow, against the odds, Hodgman forged ahead. And the tides eventually shifted.
"In politics and government, circumstances change," the Premier tells The Examiner.
"It's my job as the leader of our team to, with their support, respond and manage change.
"Our Parliament is a robust place and often can present challenges to us but we've got to manage them, keep our eye on the game - the main game - and that's our state and the people we represent and not get embroiled in the politics."
And yet getting oneself "embroiled in the politics" was easy to do in 2019.
Clark pair define year
The one-seat majority enjoyed by the Liberals came under threat when Parliament resumed in 2018, following the state election.
Hickey, a Clark Liberal MHA, was successfully appointed Speaker of the House of Assembly, despite her party nominating Hidding for the role.
Ever since that day, Hickey has always maintained she would vote on legislation according to merit and her conscience, even if it meant breaking ranks.
"She's got a really important role as Speaker of the House ... and that does require some independence, and I respect that," Hodgman says.
"But, similarly, she's a member of our Parliament, represents her constituency [and] she's part of the Liberal team. She was elected as a Liberal with an expectation she'd deliver on the things that we promised and she's contributing to that."
After a year marked by Hickey-mania, things changed when Labor's Scott Bacon resigned.
Former Labor member Madeleine Ogilvie, who has an uneasy relationship with the party and failed to retain her seat at the 2018 election, was returned on a recount to fill the vacancy left by Bacon.
Now Ogilvie sits as an independent and has chiefly voted with the government since taking her place on the crossbench in September, including on contentious legislation relating to mandatory sentencing for child sex offences and anti-protest laws.
It's negated the influence of Hickey, enabling Hodgman to reassert his authority.
"Why Labor were happy to cast her aside is the real question of the year around Madeleine's return to Parliament," Hodgman says. "I think it was one of the dumbest political moves you could imagine."
"I can hardly think of a time, other than at an election, where a party in opposition has lost a member by choice."
Hodgman denies that a deal was ever done with Ogilvie to guarantee her support.
He says he hasn't discussed with Ogilvie the prospect of her joining the Liberals and isn't aware of anyone else in the government having had such discussions with the Clark MHA.
Now coming into his seventh year as Premier, Hodgman appears buoyed by his newfound momentum.
"It's really not job done - its job just begun," he says of his tenure so far.
Dollar signs and vital signs
In 2019, Tasmania continued its upward trajectory, topping several national rankings of the strongest performing economies in the country.
Hodgman says a priority for the year ahead will be further improving the state's economy.
"That's the centrepiece of our plan and our mission, to keep Tasmania top in 2020," he says.
"That's because a strong economy underpins our ability to invest more into our hospitals, into our schools, into our roads and infrastructure, to keep our community safe and to deliver a better life for Tasmanians wherever they live."
While Tasmania's economy may be humming, its health system and housing situation remain in dire straits.
In politics and government, circumstances change.
- Will Hodgman, Premier
Hodgman identifies the state's population growth as a reason for these issues becoming more pronounced.
"We are experiencing as a state an unprecedented increase in demand for services, presentations at our hospitals, more complex health needs, a growing population and an ageing population also places additional stress on our health system," he says.
"In terms of housing ... we're meeting, again, the demand of a growing population, a very hot property market - the hottest in the country.
"That's had an impact right across the housing spectrum."
The Premier won't be drawn on whether inequality has worsened in Tasmania since his government came to power in 2014.
"We will do all we can to minimise any inequities in our community for those most vulnerable," he says.
Hodgman says the government has delivered on all the targets under its Affordable Housing Action Plan but notes that housing is still "one of our great challenges".
An increase of about $100 million in health spending this year is also something the Premier is keen to highlight.
Whether or not Tasmania continues, in some cases, to be a victim of its own success next year remains to be seen; but Hodgman is banking on the hope that an improved economy will address some of the state's weaknesses.
Development angst
The state government has drawn fire for its handling of the expressions of interest process for developments in Tasmania's wilderness areas.
The most prominent example of such a development is the proposed standing camp at Lake Malbena in the Central Highlands.
Certain elements in the community feel the process has been shrouded in secrecy. Hodgman disagrees.
"Any decisions that are made, licences and leases which are granted under my government, [are] the same that were granted under Labor and the Greens," he says.
"The difference is businesses are now more confident to come forward ... [and] invest."
Another controversial development proposal, this one outside the wilderness context, is the Northern Regional Prison.
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The government's preferred site is two kilometres north of Westbury, provoking the ire of many of the locals.
Hodgman avoids stating how he'd feel if a prison was built in his home suburb of Sandy Bay, but acknowledges that parts of any community would always be anxious about such a facility going up in their backyard.
"We always anticipated that there would be people in [Westbury] that were anxious about that," he says. "So we need to work with that community on their concerns."
Surging, emerging
Tasmania's future is looking bright, according to the Premier.
"There's an enormous opportunity moving forward ... in many new and emerging sectors where there's enormous potential for growth and for Tasmania to continue to stand apart," he says.
Hodgman name-checks renewable energy, defence, the blue economy and the university as key sectors for the state moving forward.
The state government and the Commonwealth will together invest more than $1 billion into infrastructure in Northern Tasmania over the next decade.
And Hodgman assures The Examiner that he intends to remain in the top job and contest the 2022 election as the incumbent premier, despite whispers to the contrary.
"I certainly intend to be [Premier] and hope [to be] so," he says. "I've had the strong support of my team for a number of years now and I respect that."
"It's a great privilege, an honour and a responsibility."
With elections for two Legislative Council seats set for next May, the shape of the Parliament could change again, either moving further to the left or consolidating the government's power through the addition of another conservative member in the upper house.
As Hodgman says: "The people will have their say".
That they will.