The Tasmanian Liberals have a new leader – Will Hodgman – who has
replaced Rene Hidding. Hodgman revealed he wanted the top job to Crikey
on 28 February, the first time his ambition was put on the record. A Mercury TasPoll had found that more than a third of Liberal
voters thought Hodgman would make a better premier than Hidding
and 12% named him as the political figure they would like to see as the
next premier – a feather in his cap because his name wasn’t included
in the survey.

Hidding wanted to stay on but the 4% swing to the Liberals
didn’t translate into new seats and without them, his numbers were up
in the party room. Hodgman, 36, a lawyer and a Roman Catholic, is a scion of a Hobart
political dynasty which includes uncle Peter, great great uncle Thomas
and grandfather Bill, while his father is Michael, a former Fraser
Government minister and a member of his son’s team. While Michael is
nearly bursting out of his pinstripes with pride in his son, they don’t
agree on everything: Michael is a monarchist, Will is a republican.

Liberal dynasties are also in the news in South Australia in the wake
of that state’s election – dynasties with one patriarch who might even
be more colourful than Michael Hodgman. Iain Evans and Vicki Chapman
have been elected leader and deputy of the shattered party, with only
two dissenters failing to back the unity ticket. Their fathers were
prominent players on opposing sides of the party from the Seventies.

Former family lawyer Chapman becomes the first woman to occupy a
leadership position in the local party – and quickest ascender to the
top of the team, as she was only first elected in 2002.