Out-and-in-again Premier

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33777, 25 February 1975, Page 18

Out-and-in-again Premier

(N Z. Press Assn—Copyright/ LAUNCESTON, February 24., It was a case of out and in again for the Tasmanian Premier (Mr Eric Reece) at the State’s Australian Labour Party conference today. The veteran Premier resigned his leadership and ; Parliamentary seat this morning after a Cabinet decision that members who had reached the age of 65 could not stand for re-election. Mr Reece, who entered I Parliament in 1946 and holds i the record for the longest consecutive term of any Tasmanian Premier, is nearly 66, and would not, under the new rule, be eligible for the next Tasmanian election in May, 1977. The retiring-age motion

had resounding support from both Right and Left, even close friends and allies of

many years, such as the Minister of Defence (Mr Lance Barnard) speaking and voting in favour of it. , By lunch-time, however, after the impact of Mr Reece’s enforced resignation had begun to sink in, the Left-wing delegates were obviously anxious about what they considered the unwelcome possibility of either the Minister of Education (Mr Neil Batt) or the Attorney-General and Deputy Premier (Mr William Neilson) becoming Premier. The Left-wing caucus met on the lawns outside the conference centre and decided that it wanted time to establish a candidate in the Parliamentary party who they considered more favourable to them; and when the motion was put that conference had full confidence in Mr Reece, and that he should see out the remainder of his term, the voting was unanimous. Announcing his retirement earlier, Mr Reece had said: “I feel that I have been charged and am on trial. Somewhere, someone hasn’t come along and said, ‘Eric, you’ve had the Roger—it’s just about time you gave away. You’ve lost the estimation of the party and of the people of Tasmania, therefore in some form you are to the detriment of the prospects of this party.’ “If someone had said that, it Would have been a very , kind gesture. “I was joking here yester-

day with Gough Whitlam about Bifiy Snedden being likely to have his head cut off, and at the same time it was being planned that mine was to go under the guillotine before his. It is strange that in 24 hours there can be quirks of fate of this description.”

The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Eardley Bingham) said after the conference that the resignation and aboutface of Mr Reece were significant of the splintering and factional disruption within the Labour Party. “Mr Reece should call an early election,” he added.