Tasmania's departing opposition leader Bryan Green says he's making way for the state's next premier after helping put the Liberal government on the ropes.
The 59-year-old on Friday announced his retirement from politics, with second-term MP Rebecca White elected unopposed as his replacement to lead the Labor Party.
The shuffle comes in the run-up to the island state's 2018 election, with the 34-year-old new mum expected to spark a surge in Labor's approval rating.
"I made the decision off the back of the work that I've done and the position we're in ... to retire, to step down from politics," Mr Green said as he signed off on 19 years in politics and three as state Labor leader.
"That gives the Labor Party the opportunity to win the next election in our own right. We are level-pegging with the government as it stands when it comes to seats right now."
Mr Green has been under pressure since the resumption of parliament in early March after an EMRS poll showed voter support for him as the alternative premier was just 20 per cent.
Premier Will Hodgman holds a 52 per cent popularity rating.
"The person you're looking at is the next premier of Tasmania," he proclaimed at a joint press conference with Ms White.
Charged with uniting the devastated Labor Party after a resounding 2014 election loss, Mr Green said the party had taken an important step towards renewal.
"We are strong, we are united, we are building a policy base that will take us to the next election. The issue for me was, what do I need to do in the best interest of the party to allow us to win?"
He cited Saturday's landslide Labor election victory in Western Australia as an example of what could happen in Tasmania and took a swipe at Liberal leaders at the state and federal levels.
"Malcolm Turnbull, in the same vein as Will Hodgman, doesn't have the courage of his own convictions. We need leaders that do have that courage," he said.
Ms White, a former party staffer, lacks the union ties of her predecessor that are so common among Labor MPs.
"I come from a country farm and one of the motivations I had for joining the political movement in the first place was the passion I felt about representing my community and being a voice for my community," she said.
"I didn't come up through the Labor movement, through a political family or through the union movement. I joined this party because I believe in the values of the Labor Party."
After taking time off mid-way through 2016 to have her first baby, Ms White resumed her role as opposition health spokeswoman.
Mr Hodgman dismissed Labor's leadership change.
"No matter what they do, they change the leader, doesn't change the fact they've got no plan, they've got no policies," he said.
"What's happened here too clearly is another example of a Labor Party being governed by unions."
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