I suppose I should mention we've had a state government for a week now. It seems that state governments are actually important for going to interstate meetings, making statements to the media and jumping up and down when large companies threaten to close.
The way it happened is the Governor held discussions with the leaders of parties (they being the former premier, Bartlett, who had announced his party would step down if the Liberals got the greater percentage of the votes, and the former opposition leader, Hodgman, whose party got the greater percentage of votes) and after much deliberation announced that Bartlett would return as premier. So now boys and girls, we know what the role of a vice-regal governor is, right?
The week or two were taken up with negotiations to form the actual cabinet with insufficient Labor MPs to take on all the ministries, but it's done now, with the cabinet containing
two one Green minister (the first in the country, we kept getting told) and a Treasurer who said
he would not serve in a Government that included any Greens.
So, minority government for the next four years. If they can make it that far. It shall be... interesting.
Also, potentially interesting, the
Gunns restructure with a subsidary company, headed by their former chairman, taking responsibility for their plantations and pulp mill development.