Greens leader compares premier to Russian dictator Joseph Stalin

The leader of the Tasmanian Greens has denied she compared the premier to Joseph Stalin, an infamous murderous dictator, despite being caught on parliamentary record saying "it reminded me a little bit of what Joseph Stalin used to do".

Rosalie Woodruff was trying to argue that Premier Jeremy Rockliff was "erasing history" when she made the reference.

The ABC understands Dr Woodruff intends to apologise in the parliament.

On Wednesday, Mr Rockliff became the first Tasmanian premier to be censured after being accused of failing to uphold the ministerial code of conduct.

His MPs involved in the saga — Madeleine Ogilvie and Jane Howlett — have recently quit their ministries and moved to the backbench over accusations they misled parliament.

Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953, and is estimated to be responsible for at least 6 million deaths through mass famine, executions by the secret police, and ethnic cleansing.

He is also accused of manipulating history through political censorship.

Dr Woodruff's comment was made during a parliamentary debate on integrity on Tuesday, where she highlighted the lack of action taken by the premier to hold his ministers accountable over the past six months.

"In the premier's answers to me [in question time] this morning, he talked about the fact that they [Ogilvie and Howlett] had resigned, so move on," she said.

"It reminded me a little bit of what Joseph Stalin used to do, which is to erase inconvenient truths in history just to literally take it out of the history books."

Rockliff asks comment to be withdrawn

Mr Rockliff was not in the chamber at the time, but raised it on the morning of the censure and again in question time on Thursday.

"I'm still waiting for the honourable member leader of the Greens to withdraw her comment in terms of referring to me as Stalin," he told parliament.

"I might add, I'm happy to be criticised for many things, but murdering my own people is not one of those that I accept."

Asked by the media if it was appropriate to compare the premier to Stalin, Dr Woodruff said she had not.

Dr Woodruff: "No, it wasn't a comparison to Joseph Stalin, it was a comparison to what happened in the USSR in that period of time when history was being erased."

Journalist: But you named Stalin.

Dr Woodruff: Well, Stalin oversaw that period of time and it was a dark time in Russia's history.

Journalist: This is the kind of semantics we see from the government, going, 'Oh, I wasn't comparing him to Stalin, I was just comparing him to Stalin's government.'

Dr Woodruff: Well, if you know, I was comparing him to what was happening under Joseph Stalin's government.

The Greens leader went on to say she simply wanted to remind Mr Rockliff that it was important to learn the lessons of history and not rewrite the things that have happened.

Asked if MPs' behaviour needed to be better across the board, Dr Woodruff said she was willing to have a conversation with Mr Rockliff.

"Look, it's a conversation I'm happy to have with the premier," she said.