In 1989, Lance Armstrong was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly for Bass.
Together with Christine Milne, Di Hollister, Gerry Bates and Bob Brown, Lance formed an alliance called The Green Independents, and held the balance of power in the government for three years. After the 1992 election, these independents were reconstituted as the Tasmanian Greens.
At the 1996 election, four Greens were returned and the Greens achieved the balance of power with a Liberal minority government, but Lance lost his seat of Bass.