Tasmanian Labor Premier David Bartlett will lead a precarious minority government with the support of the Greens following the wash-up of the state's marathon election drama.
Liberal leader Will Hodgman has been sidelined, crying foul, after the state's Governor Peter Underwood on Thursday told Mr Bartlett that it was his obligation, as the incumbent, to recall parliament and test his government's support on the floor of the house.
Mr Hodgman said Mr Bartlett and Greens leader Nick McKim had acted disgustingly toward Tasmanians with the premier going back on his word to hand over power and the Greens selling out their voters to support Labor.
They had no moral authority, he said.
No confidence motion
"We will pass a no-confidence motion immediately to this illegitimate government," a livid Mr Hodgman told reporters.
The Liberals' no-confidence motion is doomed to fail, after Mr McKim on Thursday said the Greens would support Labor against such a motion.
Labor lost its majority, suffering a 12 per cent swing, at the March 20 election. The make-up of the next Tasmanian parliament will be a 10-10-5 split of Liberal, Labor and the Greens, respectively.
Mr Bartlett had promised that in the event of a tie between the major parties in a hung parliament, the party that emerged with the greatest overall vote - the Liberals - should be given first chance to form a minority government.
Bartlett 'kept his commitment'
He had been emphatic during the election campaign that he would not do any deals with the Greens.
"I kept my commitment to the Tasmanian people that in the event of a 10-10 result, with the Liberals receiving more of the overall popular vote, I would give the Liberals, via my advice to His Excellency, the first opportunity to form government," he said.
"Will Hodgman has been unable to do so.
"Therefore the responsibility rests with me to form a government and that is exactly what I intend to do."
The scandal-plagued Labor party will now enter a fourth consecutive term in Tasmania.
Upcoming budget
The state's parliament will be recalled within weeks, with the budget due in July.
Mr Bartlett had previously said that he could not form a stable minority government, given that Mr Hodgman and Mr McKim had joined in a defeated no-confidence motion against him on the second last day of the previous parliament on November 18.
But Mr McKim on Thursday pledged conditional support for a minority Labor government.
On Thursday night, Mr Bartlett said he would do everything in his power to work with the Greens, to make the next parliament function in the best interests of Tasmania.
"You will see from me, in the future, a different premier," he told reporters of Labor's fourth consecutive term in government.
'Building trust'
"(I'll be) a premier who seeks at all times to build trust across parliamentary divides."
Tasmania has had only two minority governments that relied on Greens support.
The 1989-1992 Labor-Greens accord saw Labor bundled out of office at the next election with its lowest ever primary vote, of 28.9 per cent.
An informal Liberal-Greens minority government arrangement ended in 1998 after two years, when Labor leader Jim Bacon was elected premier, ushering in the past 12 years of ALP rule.
"I'm going to do everything in my powers to make this parliament go the full four years because I believe that's what our community wants," Mr Bartlett said.
Mr McKim said the Greens support for Labor would end if any two of three parties reached a negotiated agreement.
The Greens could still support the Liberals, but Mr Hodgman is refusing any such deal.
"Our hand remains extended both to Mr Bartlett and the Labor party and and Mr Hodgman and the Liberal party in relation to a potential negotiated arrangement," Mr McKim said.
