The leader of the Tasmanian Greens has apologised for likening Premier Jeremy Rockliff to Joseph Stalin, the infamous Soviet dictator.
Rosalie Woodruff earlier said she was trying to argue that Premier Jeremy Rockliff was “erasing history” when she made the reference on Tuesday.
Later, on adjournment in parliament today, Dr Woodruff said she understood her comment had “offended the premier”.
“For that, I apologise,”
she said.
“I did not refer to the premier directly as Joseph Stalin, but I did say ‘what Joseph Stalin used to do, which is to erase inconvenient truths in history’.
“That is, Stalin ordered evidence of prior words and actions that didn’t fit his narrative to be literally cut out of books, and by that out of history.”
On Wednesday, Mr Rockliff became the first Tasmanian premier to be censured after being accused of failing to uphold the ministerial code of conduct.
His MPs involved in the saga — Madeleine Ogilvie and Jane Howlett — have recently quit their ministries and moved to the backbench over accusations they misled parliament.
After refusing to answer questions about what he knew and when during estimates hearings last week, on the basis of “legal confidentiality”, Mr Rockliff has since acknowledged he should have “interrogated” the Ogilvie matter more fully.
“I regret I didn’t. I should have. And for that I apologise,” he said last week.
Joseph Stalin was the secretary-general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. (Supplied)
Dr Woodruff today told parliament that although it was not her intention, she accepted that mentioning a dictator in the context of the premier’s name “carried with it a bundle of unwelcome associations with other vile actions”.
“I misspoke and I apologise to the premier for that offence, and withdraw those words,”
she said.
“In their place, I would insert instead, it reminds me a little bit of the Orwellian behaviour or erasing inconvenient truths in history.”
Dr Woodruff also said her answers to questions in the media were based on her recollection.
“Having since reviewed the record, I acknowledge my answers to the media were wrong, and I sincerely apologise,”
she said.
Jeremy Rockliff became the first Tasmanian premier to be censured by the parliament. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)
Asked on Thursday by the media if it was appropriate to compare the premier to Stalin, Dr Woodruff said she had not.
Dr Woodruff: “No, it wasn’t a comparison to Joseph Stalin, it was a comparison to what happened in the USSR in that period of time when history was being erased.”
Journalist: But you named Stalin.
Dr Woodruff: Well, Stalin oversaw that period of time and it was a dark time in Russia’s history.
Journalist: This is the kind of semantics we see from the government, going, ‘Oh, I wasn’t comparing him to Stalin, I was just comparing him to Stalin’s government.’
Dr Woodruff: Well, if you know, I was comparing him to what was happening under Joseph Stalin’s government.
The Greens leader went on to say she simply wanted to remind Mr Rockliff that it was important to learn the lessons of history and not rewrite the things that have happened.
Asked if MPs’ behaviour needed to be better across the board, Dr Woodruff said she was willing to have a conversation with Mr Rockliff.
Mr Rockliff was not in the chamber at the time of the ‘Stalin’ comment, but raised it on the morning of the censure and again in Question Time today.
“I’m happy to be criticised for many things, but murdering my own people is not one of those that I accept,”
he said.
Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953, and is estimated to be responsible for at least 6 million deaths through mass famine, executions by the secret police, and ethnic cleansing.
He is also accused of manipulating history through political censorship.
