{"id":21136,"date":"2026-05-30T01:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T01:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/21136\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T01:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T01:17:08","slug":"will-ruth-forrest-get-an-apology-for-her-leaked-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/21136\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Ruth Forrest get an apology for her leaked email?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ruth Forrest wants an apology. Will she get one?<\/p>\n

The Member for Murchison, was livid on Tuesday night after an email she sent to the government was leaked to the media.<\/p>\n

“I ask not only who, but why? What was the purpose \u2014 to embarrass me? To mock a legitimate health-related request? If so, that tells a great deal about the character of those involved,” she said.<\/p>\n

All she did, in that email, was ask for those appearing in front of her Estimates committee next week to refrain from wearing strong cologne or perfume<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I and some others have experienced adverse reactions in the past to these strong fragrances, perfumes and aftershaves. I know I’m not alone in this,” she wrote.<\/p>\n

A simple request she says, and one that anyone who has been nasally attacked in an elevator can sympathise with.<\/p>\n

\"View<\/p>\n

Ms Forrest says the email contained private health information. (ABC News: Peter Curtis)<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, someone in the executive building with a penchant for Santal 33 saw this as an affront to their rights, dropping it to local news outlet Pulse Tasmania.<\/p>\n

“I call on the government, and I expect the leader will take this forward, to identify and name who was responsible, and to explain to this house, why a confidential internal email ended up in the hands of the media,” Ms Forrest said.<\/p>\n

You’d think the culprit would be easy to sniff out \u2014 follow the floral top notes.<\/p>\n

‘Deeply disappointed’: Premier silent on leaked email complaint<\/a><\/p>\n

Ruth Forrest says she is “deeply disappointed” about a lack of government response over a leaked email and is now considering escalating her complaint.<\/p>\n

Pulse Tasmania reported the Tasmanian legislative council member’s (MLC’s) request, and included her explanation for the request.<\/p>\n

Was this a targeted smear from the government? Or just a disgruntled staffer who thought it was unreasonable?<\/p>\n

Does it matter?<\/p>\n

Ms Forrest wants an apology for the leaking of her email, which she says contained private health information.<\/p>\n

What’s been odd, is the complete reluctance from the government to offer one.<\/p>\n

Deputy Premier Guy Barnett was asked on Thursday if the government was looking into it.<\/p>\n

He couldn’t comment \u2014 he said he hadn’t seen the letter.<\/p>\n

\"Lower<\/p>\n

Guy Barnett said that if concerns had been raised, he was sure they would be “considered carefully”. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)<\/p>\n

Would the government apologise?<\/p>\n

The deputy had no further comment.<\/p>\n

Did he sympathise with Ruth Forrest?<\/p>\n

He hadn’t seen it.<\/p>\n

After more questions, Mr Barnett offered that if concerns had been raised, he was sure they would be “considered carefully”.<\/p>\n

The next day, Health Minister Bridget Archer said she wasn’t aware of it.<\/p>\n

It’s near impossible Ms Forrest’s call for an apology has not made its way to the government.<\/p>\n

The government does not want to apologise.<\/p>\n

Relationship turns frosty<\/p>\n

It’s clear that the relationship between Ms Forrest and the government has deteriorated significantly.<\/p>\n

On multiple occasions, she’s been vocal about the Tasmanian government’s “disrespect for the upper house”, in ramming legislation through the chamber, or withdrawing it without notice.<\/p>\n

The trigger point appears to have been last August, when she accepted an offer from Labor to take on the role of treasurer<\/a> if the party was to claim government.<\/p>\n

Could you blame her for saying yes?<\/p>\n

It’s clear that decision is viewed as a red stain on her independence.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The Tasmanian government’s working attitude appears to have evaporated when it comes to the upper house. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)<\/p>\n

However, she remains an independent member of parliament, whose vote can help the government pass bills.<\/p>\n

Ms Forrest’s influence in the upper house cannot be understated.<\/p>\n

Look to the chamber’s seating plan \u2014 the newest member traditionally sits next to her to be shown the ropes.<\/p>\n

Currently in that spot is Huon MLC Clare Glade-Wright, who this week condemned the leaking in a facebook post.<\/p>\n

“Throwing mud at my colleagues is disappointing and goes against a safe and respectful workplace culture that I would expect from this place,” she wrote.<\/p>\n

Upper house a ‘rubber stamp’?<\/p>\n

To its credit, over the past three years the Rockliff government has gotten a lot better at governing in a hung parliament.<\/p>\n

Three MPs share mental health struggles<\/a><\/p>\n

A national study has found 70 per cent of politicians feel their job is affecting their mental health. The ABC spoke to three Tasmanian MPs, including the state’s premier, about their experiences.<\/p>\n

In parliamentary debates, it’s been willing to fall on its sword when a loss was certain.<\/p>\n

It also made major, politically costly, concessions to win over progressive crossbenchers and stay in power.<\/p>\n

Some include agreeing to review the salmon industry and to ban greyhound racing.<\/p>\n

But that working attitude appears to have evaporated when it comes to the upper house.<\/p>\n

Ruth Forrest is one of a small group of centrist independents who decide the fate of many pieces of legislation, most of whom the government seems determined to put offside.<\/p>\n

Take the government’s emergency fuel laws passed in March<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"6<\/p>\n

The Tasmanian Liberals announced a wind-down of the greyhound racing industry ahead of the last state election. (AAP: David Moir)<\/p>\n

They were pushed through parliament late at night, having only been announced earlier that day.<\/p>\n

MLC Mike Gaffney questioned if the chamber was becoming a “rubber stamp”.<\/p>\n

Casey Hiscutt said he was being asked to deal with legislation he had not formed an opinion on.<\/p>\n

Last month, legislation to phase out greyhound racing was pulled at the last minute when the government realised its passage was not secured.<\/p>\n

Bec Thomas said it showed “complete disrespect to the house and for us members”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

MLC Mike Gaffney questioned if the chamber was becoming a “rubber stamp”. (ABC News: Luke Bowden )<\/p>\n

In the case of greyhounds, two votes are needed out of upper house members Rosemary Armitage, Mike Gaffney and Ruth Forrest for the bill to pass.<\/p>\n

Has the government helped its case in the way it’s treated that legislation, or those members?<\/p>\n

It is the government’s right to bring on its legislation as it pleases.<\/p>\n

It could be fairly argued that all members of parliament should be more flexible.<\/p>\n

But the ask of those MLCs seems fairly simple \u2014 work with us, and don’t surprise us.<\/p>\n

MLCs are are process-driven people, and they want to do their job properly.<\/p>\n

Ignore that at your peril.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ruth Forrest wants an apology. Will she get one? The Member for Murchison, was livid on Tuesday night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,20211,20208,20210,4563,150,3218,20209,19140,20207,5951,5247],"class_list":["post-21136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-email","tag-forrest","tag-fragance","tag-leak","tag-media","tag-parliament","tag-perfume","tag-pulse","tag-ruth","tag-tas","tag-tasmania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}