The premiership of Jeremy Rockliff (also referred to as the Rockliff administration) began on 8 April 2022, when he was sworn in as Premier of Tasmania by Governor Barbara Baker following the resignation of his predecessor, Peter Gutwein. Rockliff previously served as deputy premier under the Hodgman and Gutwein governments.
On 5 June 2025, a motion of no confidence against him passed the parliament. He then announced that he would visit the governor Barbara Baker requesting a snap election, which was then called for 19 July 2025.
At the 2025 Tasmanian state election, Rockliff's Liberal party won 14 seats. 2025 Tasmanian government formation negotiations proved unsuccessful. Despite ongoing negotiations at the time, Governor Baker recommissioned Rockliff's government pending parliamentary confidence which was to be tested when the parliament returns. The Third Rockliff ministry was sworn in on 7 August 2025. Upon the return of parliament, a multi-hour debate ensued as to the house's confidence in Rockliff as premier. At the division vote on the matter, Rockliff was supported by every member of parliament except for those within the Labor party, finishing with a vote of 24-10.
Electoral history
2022 Tasmanian Liberal Party leadership election Jeremy Rockliff, who had been the Deputy Premier since 2014, was elected unopposed as leader of the Tasmanian Liberal Party on 8 April 2022 following the resignation of former leader Peter Gutwein. Owing to the Liberal Party already being in government in Tasmania, Rockliff also became premier on 8 April.
2024 Tasmanian state election
The 2024 Tasmanian state election was held on 23 March 2024. The election took place a year ahead of schedule due to 2 Liberal MPs (Lara Alexander and John Tucker) resigning from the Liberal Party over the proposed Macquarie Point Stadium, which plunged the party into minority government. Polls leading up to the election predicted that a hung parliament was likely; with then-Labor leader Rebecca White ruling out forming a coalition government with the Tasmanian Greens. Following the election, the Liberal Party won 14 out of 35 seats, with Labor conceding defeat. The 2024 Tasmanian government formation led to the Liberal Party gaining confidence and supply from all 3 elected members of the Jacqui Lambie Network and Independents David O'Byrne and Kristie Johnston.
2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania's Future A major part of the Liberal campaign in the 2024 state election was the 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania's Future, which included policies such as:
$250 energy credit per Tasmanian household prior to 30 June 2024; Using more Tasmanian hydropower in the state rather than exporting to Victoria; Half price bus and ferry fares; Stamp duty exemption for first home buyers with a home valued under $750,000; Banning ambulance ramping; Legislation so that if MPs switch parties during their term, their seat becomes vacant.
2025 Tasmanian state election
At the 2025 state election, the Liberals have currently won 14 seats, and are in the race for a 15th. Labor won 10 seats. On the night of the election, Rockliff did not concede and instead announced his intention to ask the governor to recommission his government. Dean Winter, the opposition leader, announced that he would seek to form a government with the crossbench in the event that Rockliff's endeavour failed. This is seen as a walk-back of his pre-election comments that he wouldn't form a government with the Greens. Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff expressed interest and a willingness to form a government with Labor.
Government formation
On 6 August, in accordance with Westminster conventions, Governor Baker recommissioned Rockliff as premier, releasing an explanatory document in which she outlined that parliament would conduct confidence and no-confidence votes to decide on the government. Parliament will reconvene on 19 August, with opposition leader Dean Winter stating that either he, or the crossbench will move on the first sitting day a motion of no-confidence in the Liberal government, followed by a motion of confidence in Labor. If Winter's Labor succeeds in these motions, a Labor government will be installed.
Rockliff's third ministry was sworn in on 11 August.
On 7 August, only one crossbencher had offered support to either party with Craig Garland expressing his intention to support Labor on both motions. Closer to the date of parliament's return, David O'Byrne again offered his support to the Liberal party. At a similar time, the Greens announced that they could not support the Labor party due to its unwillingness to negotiate with the crossbench. At the final vote of the no-confidence motion, the Liberals were supported by all independents, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, and the Greens, delivering a result of 24–10 in Rockliff's favour. Following the no-confidence motion loss for Labor, the Labor constitution triggered the 2025 Tasmanian Labor Party leadership election, with Winter being defeated as leader by Josh Willie.
Polling In August 2025, Rockliff reached a new high in preferred premier polling, reaching 50%, more than twice of that claimed by Labor leader Josh Willie.
State affairs
Animal welfare In August 2025, Rockliff announced a plan to end the funding of greyhound racing by 2029, with a subsequent ban on the racing.
Economy During the premiership of Jeremy Rockliff, the economy of Tasmania has had strong economic growth by means of wage growth and investment. However, the proposed Macquarie Point Stadium has drawn criticism to the government due to the lack of private funding, which could increase the state's debt burden. According to a Roy Morgan business report released in 2025, businesses have declining confidence in Tasmania.
Education On 16 September 2025, it was announced by the Department for Education, Children and Young People that 12 public schools would close the next day, 17 September, due to widespread strikes by educational support staff. Schools affected include Sorell School, Rose Bay High School and Oatlands District School, some of the largest schools in Tasmania.
Later in October 2025, it was announced that all public schools in the state would close over 3 separate days depending on the region. This was due to the Rockliff government denying Tasmanian Unions request of a 22.3% pay rise for teachers, claiming it was unaffordable.
Healthcare
The Parliament of Tasmania has conducted an inquiry into ambulance ramping. The inquiry has discovered that the Royal Hobart Hospital was negligent, with the inquiry hearing about overmedicating with opioids such as clinical fentanyl as well as reports about mental health patients that were ramped for long enough as to allow a mental health order (MHO) to expire.
The Government announced in 2024 that a new $90-million mental health facility would be built at the Launceston General Hospital, accommodating 30 patients with a short-stay unit and safe haven to reduce pressure on the hospital emergency department.
In 2022, the Tasmanian Government spent approximately $5.9 billion on healthcare, which is around 57% of the state's expenditure.
Housing
Tasmania has had a housing crisis since 2017/18, caused by an economic boom. In 2018, Tasmanian capital-city Hobart has the lowest rental vacancy rate of any Australian capital city at 0.3%. In 2024, the waiting list for social housing averaged 80 weeks, increasing four-fold from 2019.
During Rockliff's premiership, the government has promised to deliver 10,000 social or affordable homes by 2032, with the majority being affordable homes. As of 2025, the government has abolished stamp-duty for first home buyers with a house valued under $750,000.
Macquarie Point Stadium
The Macquarie Point Stadium is a proposed multi-purpose stadium for Hobart. Since announced in 2022, the stadium has drawn wide criticism from Tasmanian residents and political parties due to the cost of the project and distraction from the surrounding scenery. The stadium was mainly proposed in order to allow Tasmania to have an Australian Football League team, with an AFL executive saying that there would not be a Tasmanian team without the stadium being constructed. The estimated cost of the stadium is slated to exceed the projected $775m and surge to around $1.1b with the estimated cost for Tasmania being $785m. The Rockliff government pledged to not spend more than $375m on the project, with the rest covered by federal funds, however an independent analysis deems this unlikely.
During Rebecca White's leadership of the Tasmanian Labor Party, Labor did not support the stadium and instead pledged to build an elective surgery hospital in Hobart as a 2024 state election commitment. Under Dean Winter's leadership, Labor has agreed to support the stadium due to the large amount of local jobs that will open for its construction. The Tasmanian Greens and Jacqui Lambie Network are vehemently opposed the stadium.
In 2025, it was announced by the government that the stadium would be pulled out of the Project of State Significance process and instead be enabled by special legislation in the parliament with the support of Labor. Rockliff was criticised for giving members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council an ultimatum regarding the stadium legislation.
On 13 November 2025, the House of Assembly voted to approve the parliamentary order allowing the Macquarie Point Stadium to go ahead as planned. This division resulted in 25 votes in favour, with 9 against. The order was supported by all members of the Liberals, Labor and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, as well as independent David O'Byrne. Voting against were all 5 members of the Tasmanian Greens, as well as remaining independents George, Johnston, Garland and Razay.
Spirit of Tasmania Two new Spirit of Tasmania ships (Spirit of Tasmania IV and Spirit of Tasmania V) have been constructed in Finland for a cost totalling $900m. Despite the ships being built, they weren't able to be used in Tasmania because the berth has not yet been built, and is running over-budget. The government has been criticised due to the required berth not being finished until 2027 as well as the project being on course to go $130 million over budget. In 2025 it was rumoured that the Scottish government, with Spirit IV then based in Edinburgh, intended to use the ship to house refugees of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, however these rumours were shut down by the Tasmanian government and the ship is being sent to Australia.
Privatisation of state-owned assets
In September 2024, then-treasurer Michael Ferguson stated that he was open to selling off one or multiple of Tasmania's state-owned corporations in order to improve the state's budget position, which was not expected to get back into surplus until the end of the 2020s, at the earliest. This was criticised by shadow treasurer Josh Willie, who stated that Labor would staunchly oppose any attempts to privatise the state's publicly held assets. The proposal was also condemned by Tasmanian Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff, who reiterated her party's opposition to budgetary allocations for the Macquarie Point stadium project.
In early November, Rockliff proposed merging TasPorts, TT-Line and TasRail into a single entity, in order to create a unified passenger and freight business. He stated that the move was intended to address "shortcomings" in state-owned companies, and aimed to "streamline operations, reduce inefficiencies and deliver better outcomes for Tasmanian businesses and residents". The merger was to be coupled with changes in internal managerial arrangements. These included a mandate that 50% of board members of any state-owned enterprise be Tasmanian, that no minister be able to hold more than one shareholding position at a time, and that directorships and board appointments be term-limited.