Breaking: Roger Jaensch to return to Tasmanian cabinet in latest reshuffle

Roger Jaensch returns to Tasmanian cabinet, taking on most of outgoing minister Jane Howlett's portfolios Wed 17 Jun 2026 at 9:50am Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff has announced a reshuffle of his cabinet, following the resignation of former racing minister Jane Howlett from the frontbench on Tuesday. Roger Jaensch will take on the portfolios for Tourism, Hospitality and Events; Minister for Racing; Minister for Community and Multicultural Affairs; and Minister for the Arts. Current Minister for Education, Children and Youth, and Disability Services, Jo Palmer, has also been appointed Minister for Women and the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence. Ms Palmer and Mr Jaensch were sworn in on Wednesday morning. In less than three weeks, the Tasmanian government has seen two ministers relinquish their portfolios and move to the backbench. Madeleine Ogilvie resigned as a minister in late May, amid accusations she misled parliament, after revealing her involvement in a Supreme Court matter, months after saying she was not connected to any legal action. Ms Howlett resigned less than an hour before parliament was due to sit on Tuesday, following mounting pressure to move to the backbench over $405,000 in taxpayer money being used to pay her legal fees. Ms Howlett has also faced questions over conflicting evidence about what her office knew about a breach of caretaker conventions during the last election. Asked if he would admit that the former ministers had misled parliament or broken the ministerial code of conduct, Mr Rockliff said they had already "paid a very high price". "They're on the backbench. They don't have ministries anymore. That accountability has been well demonstrated," he said. Mr Rockliff also used the press conference to decry what he labelled "personal attacks" against the former ministers in the preceding weeks, taking particular issue with Labor MP Dean Winter's "appalling" attacks against Ms Howlett. "I was compared to Stalin yesterday, I understand — I mean for heaven's sake, enough's enough,"Mr Rockliff said. "Is this the kind of parliament that our crossbench actually want when there is a focus so deeply personal?" Loading