Premier

On 26 May 2008 Lennon made the surprise announcement that he would resign that day as Premier. Bartlett was sworn in as Premier later in the day by the Tasmanian Governor, the Hon. Peter Underwood, having been elected State party leader by the caucus.^[5]

During the March 2010 election campaign, Bartlett promised to resign as Premier if the opposition Liberal Party won more seats than the government,^[6] and that a "back room deal with the Greens is a deal with the devil... I am not going to sell my soul for the sake of remaining in power".^[7]

The seat results were 10 Liberal (38.99%), 10 Labor (36.88%), and 5 Green (21.61%), a hung parliament. With neither major party having a majority and neither willing to negotiate with the Greens, Bartlett and Labor voted to relinquish power to the Liberals since they had won the popular vote. Bartlett then went to Government House with a letter urging the Governor, Peter Underwood, to commission a Liberal minority government. However, Underwood opted to recommission Bartlett, taking the line that the Liberals were not in a position to provide stable government.^[8] Underwood noted that Hodgman had not approached the Greens for support before the writs were returned, and Bartlett had not promised a minimum period of support to a Hodgman minority government. He also concluded that Bartlett's promise to give up power was not relevant, since the decision to invite a person to form government was solely within the governor's prerogative. Since Bartlett still held his commission as Premier, Underwood was of the view that Bartlett was obliged to test the support for his government on the floor of the House of Assembly.^[9] This was per longstanding Westminster convention that the incumbent premier/prime minister has the first opportunity to form a government if no party has a majority.

Greens leader Nick McKim announced his party's support for Labor on matters of confidence and supply. A Labor-Green agreement with joint ministry arrangements eventuated, leading the Governor to re-appoint Bartlett as Premier in a Labor minority government.^[10] Bartlett said his minority government with the Greens was his biggest challenge of 2010: "I think the alternative would have been political chaos and parliamentary chaos, and that would be good for no-one. It had better work because with Tasmania facing hung parliaments and minority governments for the next decade or two as a regular part of our political landscape, we must find ways to make this work."^[3]

Bartlett government achievements include the establishment of an integrity commission and introduction of freedom of information legislation, successfully lobbying for Tasmania being the first to receive the National Broadband Network rollout, and advocacy of Tasmania being the "national food bowl". However, education system reforms and forestry issues have been controversial for the government.^[11]

Resignation

Bartlett announced his resignation as Premier of Tasmania and Tasmanian Labor leader on Facebook on 23 January 2011, citing family reasons.^[3][12] Deputy Premier Lara Giddings was sworn in on 24 January as the new Premier.^[13] In the Giddings cabinet, Bartlett was appointed as Attorney-General and Justice Minister. He said he would remain in parliament but did not intend to contest the next election.^[3] On 11 May 2011, following the defeat of Labor's Lin Thorp in Legislative Council elections, he resigned from cabinet but said he would remain in parliament for some "months".^[14] On 13 May, following pressure from within Labor and the Opposition, he quit parliament entirely.^[15][16]