Bethune was elected to the
Tasmanian House of Assembly at the
1946 general election on 23 November 1946, representing the seat of
Wilmot (now
Lyons) for the newly formed
Liberal Party. On 19 March 1960, Bethune became
Leader of the Opposition when the leader of the Liberal Party,
Tim Jackson resigned in protest at party disunity and a lack of support for his leadership. On 7 September 1966,
Kevin Lyons resigned from the state Liberal Party after a dispute over preselection, and on 15 October formed the
Centre Party. In 1969, Lyons held the balance of power, and offered his support to Bethune to form government with himself as deputy premier. Bethune accepted. This forced
Labor premier
Eric Reece to resign on 26 May, making Bethune the first non-Labor premier of Tasmania in 35 years, and the first to hold the post since the main non-Labor party in Tasmania adopted the Liberal banner in 1946. He also served as his own
treasurer. During his term as premier, Bethune introduced a number of important initiatives, although he had pledged to avoid "revolutionary changes". Bethune's government introduced random
breath tests to tackle
drink driving, made the wearing of
seatbelts compulsory, set up the
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, built more schools and tightened state finances. In 1972, Kevin Lyons dissolved the coalition between the Centre and Liberal parties, and was highly critical of Bethune. Bethune was forced to the polls, and the instability in his government saw him lose power in the
election on a three-seat swing. Labor won a clear majority, and Reece returned as premier. ==After politics==