Rockliff wants to move forward — but will the parliament let him?

Premier Jeremy Rockliff says the past few weeks "have not been good enough", something he says he takes "full responsibility for". (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)

The last time that happened in Tasmania, the premier was gone in a matter of months.

But the Liberal government is in a very different place compared with 2022.

For one, the government is in minority and at the behest of a powerful crossbench.

Which makes for point two: Jane Howlett and Madeleine Ogilvie quit the frontbench not of their own free will but because Labor, the Greens and independents demanded it.

Tasmania's Racing Minister Jane Howlett has resigned from cabinet, citing "relentless personal and political" attacks from opposition parties as the reason.

To paraphrase former deputy premier Michael Ferguson when he was forced out of cabinet over the Spirit of Tasmania ferry debacle — they could do the maths and the numbers weren't on their side.

Sticking with maths, there's one clear fact — as much as the government might like to write off the past few weeks as political muckery by Labor and the Greens, those two parties only make 14 seats.

Another four members of a rather diverse crossbench are needed to boot any government MPs.

So how were they convinced that it was time for Ms Ogilvie and Ms Howlett to go?

Madeleine Ogilvie was the first to resign from the frontbench. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)

Ms Ogilvie's problem was that her fellow politicians on the other side of the chamber felt she had misled parliament over whether she was subject to Supreme Court proceedings.

Ms Howlett, on the other hand, has never answered questions about court proceedings, nor has she been able to explain the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer-funded legal fees she incurred.

The calls for her to go were already growing when it came out in a committee that her office might have known about a breach of caretaker convention. The government maintains it didn't.

Those calls hit fever pitch, seemingly garnering those last few votes, and a day later, she was gone.

As the government strode in for a brutal Question Time on Tuesday, those two empty seats were stark reminders of the battle it'd just lost.

Jane Howlett's chair was empty during Question Time yesterday. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)

Opposition parties and independents would argue that they have held the ministers to account because the premier proved unable.

But if the government thinks those two resignations are enough to wipe the slate clean, it's got another thing coming.

Because, aside from some apologising and clarifying that it was