Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein will absolve himself of two parliamentary portfolios after revealing his recent health scare was a result of his body hitting the wall.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Gutwein revealed the scare had come amid working 46 days straight to release his eighth budget and culminated in him realising his body was "not a machine".
READ MORE: First Father's Day for new dads
"It's a simple as this, my body is not a machine, I hit the wall and I was quite unwell," he said.
Having conversations with people that are close to me over the last week have indicated they felt that I was tired, but I hadn't acknowledged that. I would say to people make certain you listen to your own body.
- Premier Peter Gutwein
"People should listen to their body. It wasn't appropriate to me that I was feeling stressed or fatigued or tired in any way more than what I normally would."
Holding the position of Treasurer, Tourism Minister and Climate Change Minister alongside him leading the state, Mr Gutwein said he would be stepping down from Tourism and Climate Change.
He said Roger Jaensch and Sarah Courtney, who hold five other portfolios, would be taking on the roles.
Mr Jaensch would add Climate Change Minister alongside his role as Environment Minister, while Ms Courtney would add Tourism Minister to her Hospitality and Events portfolio.
"These changes will provide a really good synergy with the current portfolio alignments that these ministers have and we'll ensure they continued to be given the appropriate focus they deserve," Mr Gutwein said.
The changes would occur after the following week of parliament.
Mr Gutwein would continue to be the Treasurer and said it was because the role of Premier and Treasurer would be interlinked as the state continued to work its way out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Greens leader Cassy O'Connor, in light of Mr Gutwein's decision and health, said it was time to revisit a discussion about increasing the Tasmanian House of Assembly to 35 members.
"It's becoming increasingly obvious that the numbers need to be restored for good governance of our growing state," she said.
"In the last term of the Parliament, all parties agreed the House of Assembly need to be restored to 35 members."
The House had 35 members as recently as 1997, but was reduced to 25 in 1998 just before the state election.
In 2010 the Greens, and the Labor and Liberal parties, moved to increase the number back to 35 for the next state election, but the Liberals withdrew their support shortly after signing an agreement to submit the proposal for public consideration.
The increase was placed back on the agenda, as Ms O'Connor said, in the last term of Parliament, and a petition was put to the government late in July by The Tasmanian Constitution Society and sponsored by the Greens' leader.
What do you think? Send us a letter to the editor: