Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It is located 240 kilometres to the south of the Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in the world, and the surrounding 1000 islands. It is Australia's smallest and least populous state, with 573,479 residents as of June 2023. The state capital and largest city is Hobart, with around 40% of the population living in the Greater Hobart area. Tasmania is the most decentralised state in Australia, with the lowest proportion of its residents living within its capital city.
Launceston is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, the Launceston urban area has a population of 90,953. Launceston is the second most populous city in Tasmania after the state capital, Hobart. Launceston is the fifth-largest inland city and the ninth-largest non-capital city in Australia. Launceston is regarded as the most livable regional city, and was one of the most popular regional cities to move to in Australia from 2020 to 2021. Launceston was named Australian Town of the Year in 2022.
The history of Tasmania begins at the end of the Last Glacial Period when it is believed that the island was joined to the Australian mainland. Little is known of the human history of the island until the British colonisation of Tasmania in the 19th century.
The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. Members of the Legislative Council are often referred to as MLCs.
Guy Barnett is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Liberal Party and was appointed deputy premier of Tasmania in 2024. He has been a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly since 2014 and has been a state government minister since 2016. He was previously a Senator for Tasmania from 2002 to 2011.
George Town is a large town in north-east Tasmania, on the eastern bank of the mouth of the Tamar River. The Australian Bureau of Statistics records the George Town Municipal Area had a population of 6,764 as of 30 June 2016.
Michael Darrel Joseph Ferguson is an Australian politician who served as the Deputy Premier of Tasmania from April 2022 to October 2024. He has been a Liberal Party member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly in the Division of Bass since the 2010 state election. Ferguson was appointed to cabinet after his party's victory in the 2014 state election and has served continuously as Minister in a range of portfolios including Finance, Health, Infrastructure, Transport, State Growth and Science and Technology.
The Parliament of Tasmania is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Tasmania. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of the governor of Tasmania, the Legislative Council, and the House of Assembly. Since 1841, the Legislative Council has met in Parliament House, Hobart, with the House of Assembly following suit from its establishment in 1856. The Parliament of Tasmania first met in 1856.
Jeremy Page Rockliff is an Australian politician. He has served as premier of Tasmania since 2022, as state leader of the Liberal Party. He previously served as deputy premier from 2014 to 2022.
Dame Marjorie Alice Collette Parker, DBE, known as Margot Parker, was an Australian civic and political activist who was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1977.
TasPorts, officially the Tasmanian Ports Corporation, is a Tasmanian Government state-owned corporation that is responsible for the management and operation of all ports in Tasmania, Australia as well as Devonport Airport.
Peter Carl Gutwein is a former Australian politician who was the 46th premier of Tasmania from 2020 to 2022. He was a Liberal Party member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 2002 to 2022, representing the electorate of Bass. He succeeded Will Hodgman as leader of the Liberal Party and Tasmanian Premier on 20 January 2020.
The Department of Health (DoH), previously the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is the Tasmanian Government department responsible for hospitals, ambulances and community health, while also supporting related areas such as primary healthcare. The department is the largest of all the Tasmanian Government agencies.
The Department of State Growth is a Tasmanian Government department responsible for fostering economic growth and creating job opportunities within the state. The department plays a vital role in supporting diverse and sustainable economic development, benefiting the Tasmanian community.
Tasmania, as an advanced economy with a globally high standard of living, uses a great deal of energy. Distinctive features of energy use in Tasmania include the high fraction of hydroelectricity usage, the absence of coal-fired electrical generation, relatively light usage of natural gas, particularly for domestic use, and a wide use of domestic wood-burning stoves. Energy production through hydroelectricity has been politically contentious, and conflicts over Tasmanian hydroelectric projects were integral to the formation of Green parties in Australia and across the world.
The 2024 Tasmanian state election was held on 23 March 2024 to elect all 35 members to the House of Assembly.
The First Rockliff ministry is the former ministry of the Tasmanian Government, led by Jeremy Rockliff of the Tasmanian Liberals. It was formed on 8 April 2022, after Rockliff was elected unopposed as leader of the Liberal Party and sworn as the state's 47th Premier by Governor Barbara Baker. The ministry replaced the Second Gutwein ministry, after former Premier Peter Gutwein resigned from his position and quit politics.
The Cabinet of Tasmania is the senior decision-making and executive body within the Tasmanian Government. The Cabinet is a body within the Executive Council of Tasmania; a council to advise the governor of Tasmania on the matters of government. Decisions made by the Cabinet do not have legal effect on their own, and must be approved by the governor in a meeting of the executive council, of which all cabinet ministers are members and the governor presides, however, due to the convention of responsible government, the governor generally rubber stamp's all decisions of Cabinet with little debate. The premier of Tasmania appoints members of Cabinet from both houses of the Parliament of Tasmania, with the governor then swearing them in. The premier presides over Cabinet, with the entirety of a premier's ministry having the ability to contribute in debate, with decisions then made collectively. Members of Cabinet are bound by the convention of Cabinet collective responsibility, forbidding cabinet ministers to speak negatively about decisions made by Cabinet in quorum, even if the minister disagrees with the policy.
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