• WATCH the MLCs: HERE
Image: J
The poverty of imagination and the lack of sense of destiny among our present-day political leaders was manifest yet again last month when they were invited to provide their “visions” for the future of the Huon Valley.
Our “honourable” ostriches (plus Mayor Robert Armstrong) — all seemingly incapable of sensibly tackling the pressing issues of today — dutifully wrote their vision of how they want the valley to be half a century hence. Subsequently, their words were published in the November 28 Huon Valley News, a copy of which was placed in the time capsule that now rests beneath the floorboards of Franklin’s century-old Palais Theatre.
In 2062, the townsfolk of Franklin — surely it will be a town by then, rather than a township! — will lift floorboards and pore over the capsule’s contents. I hope they won’t be holding their breath in anticipation of gasps of admiration for the brilliance of either the leadership or vision of their early-21st century ancestors.
The thoughts of Labor Premier Lara Giddings, Greens leader Nick McKim (who, with his party’s MPs, holds the state’s Labor Government together), Liberal Opposition Leader Will Hodgman, and Mayor Armstrong, as they appear in the Huon Valley News, can give none of us a sense of pride in knowing that they will be read when the capsule is opened 50 years from now.
Not only is there not an original thought among their offerings; there is not even one creative idea as to how, from this early 21st century dysfunctional starting point, the groundwork for a successful Huon Valley community circa 2062 can be laid. The paucity of imagination and vacuity of our leaders’ responses to the invitation to put their “visions” on record is flabbergasting. (None of which is to say that the valley will not be a sustainable and flourishing place to live 50 years from now. But it will be no thanks to the efforts of the aforementioned.)
It doesn’t matter which of the four “visions” you read, you’ll learn nothing about how our leaders intend to contribute to the advancement of the Huon Valley’s fortunes.
Robert Armstrong offers a lot of platitudinous mother-hooding: “I would like the Huon Valley to be an area where people enjoy living and working . . . I would like our rural lifestyle to remain . . . with good access to transport, technology, infrastructure, health services and education opportunities for all . . . It is important that the residents in 2062 look back at the generations that have passed, respect and celebrate where we have come from, our history and heritage . . . I hope there always remain opportunities to encourage investment and economic growth . . . We need the Huon to grow and prosper without sacrificing the beauty . . . For many tourists, the Huon Valley is a place where they are seduced by its charm and return to call it home . . . The Huon Valley is a region where communities . . . strive for positive outcomes for all . . . I hope a sense of community and working together is still alive . . . I wish . . . for a prosperous and happy place for all . . . and for [the valley] to remain a region we are proud to call home.”
Lara Giddings, after asides to space probes landing on Mars, iPhones and internet dominating our lives, and female prime ministers and premiers, writes: “ . . . I believe the Huon will still be one of Australia’s most beautiful and tranquil places to live . . . The fresh air, wonderful river and stunning scenery will not change . . . As Tasmania’s population grows so too will the Huon’s towns and villages, perhaps bolstered by more people from overseas seeking to escape . . . from an overcrowded world or from places affected by the extremes of climate change . . . people . . . will be using technology that we cannot imagine . . . in education and health care . . . technology . . . will be helping Tasmanians live happier, longer and healthier lives . . . advances will . . . help to further reduce the inequalities between the richest and poorest . . . residents will still grow crops and fish . . . others will work in jobs that have not yet been conceived . . . Perhaps . . . in the financial markets or communications industries of London or New York . . . I hope that future generations will also look back with gratitude to the people of 2012 who helped build and grow new industries like aquaculture and tourism and who helped to preserve the . . . natural and built heritage . . . To . . . residents of 2062, I say remember fondly those who went before you, and strive to create an even better future . . . just as we did in 2012.”
Will Hodgman writes from a 2062 perspective: “The Huon Valley I see in 2062 is a thriving regional centre that is still a great place to live, work and raise a family . . . there are more people . . . schools are . . . full of kids getting a great education . . . High schools now go through to Year 12 . . . fewer people out of work . . . people more confident about running a business and investing . . . The forest industry has recovered from being used as a political football . . . other thriving industries like tourism, aquaculture and agriculture . . . Residues from forest operations are used to create bio-mass and bio-energy . . . more tourists . . . more accommodation options . . . Government has invested in important infrastructure . . . Police numbers have been restored . . . expanded health services . . . Valley is rated as one of the nation’s most liveable places . . .”
Nick McKim, state leader of the only national party that can brag about a vision for the future, has missed a chance to confront the reality, although he does touch on areas to which his opposing contemporaries seem to accord little value: “ . . . My vision is for the Valley to be appreciated, respected and protected . . . I would like to see decisions made for the future have empathy with the past and inform the present . . . continue supporting, promoting and celebrating the rich cultural and artistic diversity — to build on the strong sense of community . . . to have our natural environment conserved and protected. Our wild places . . . are integral . . . and it is our responsibility to instil an ethos of guardianship . . . invest in tourism, agriculture, art and people. To work with the natural landscape to nurture economic and community strength . . . a vision for a healthy and robust community . . . strong educational and health outcomes . . . prosperity, for a community that shares interests, responsibilities, goals and ideas . . . I know [the valley] will be strong . . . People matter to one another . . . forefront for sustainable development . . .”
At the end of all this, one is left wondering why there is not one idea from any leaders that might help to give us a clear understanding as to how we are going to get from now to the shining future they all envisage? Only Giddings, in passing, mentions “climate change”. Not a mention of sustainability, peak oil, renewable energy, global warming, sea-level rise, pollution, over-fishing, urban sprawl . . . Not one offers a single idea for new forms of employment or economic opportunities that are implicit in each of the challenges listed in the previous sentence.
I won’t be around half-a-century from now to see public reaction to the utterances of our 2012 political leaders. But the optimistic Will Hodgman imagines himself visiting the valley in 2062 “at a spritely 93 years of age” and partaking of “a cold organic apple cider or two”.
If he does last that long, and still has his marbles — and we, here and now in 2012, don’t soon get serious about facing up to the unprecedented challenges that humans’ ill-treatment of the local and global environment is creating — I expect him to be cringing before the contempt with which our successors will be viewing us.
I’d like to think we in Tasmania are awake enough to face up to challenges of the dire straits that lie ahead of us, locally, nationally and internationally. I’d like to think we are better than, say, the dunderheads of an American system that has presidential candidates viewing a mention of the environment as the sounding of a death knell to their leadership aspirations. I’d like to think that we, on this blessed isle, are more caring of our world than our prime minister who, despite her admirable defiance, remains a slave to the establishment, or her parliamentary foe who masquerades as an opposition leader.
But these are all simply wistful “thinks”. There’s almost no chance we’ll do anything constructive to make life better for those who may or may not be around to lift Palais floorboards in 2062.
There is a chance, however, that our dullard leaders of today may be saved from posthumous ignominy in 2062. The key to such an avoidance might lie in one of the many snippets of information gleaned by Franklin historian Ruth Young, who has just published a true labor of love: The Palais Theatre — a social history of Franklin’s Town Hall 1912-2012.
On page 44 of her book, Young reports that, early in December 1911, after the demolition of Franklin’s 51-year-old Mechanics’ Institute Hall (to make way for the Palais building), a time capsule was retrieved from beneath the hall’s foundation stone. Some items in it had survived, but “parchment” in a bottle was “in a dry and stiff condition” and “considerably discoloured”, so much so that “it is doubtful whether any of the writing thereon would now be discernable [sic]”. That piece of information comes from the Huon Times of December 9, 1911.
Perhaps the November 28, 2012, issue of the Huon Valley News will have suffered the same fate after 50 years beneath Palais floorboards. — Bob Hawkins
• Scott Bacon
Minister for Finance
Monday 10th Dec 2012
Revised Estimates Report
The Minister for Finance, Scott Bacon, today released the 2012-13 Revised Estimates Report.
The Revised Estimates Report is an important financial report that provides an update on the status of the 2012-13 Budget.
The 2012-13 Revised Estimates Report has been prepared following the release of the Australian Government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook and the September quarterly report on year-to-date financial information.
Mr Bacon said that the Revised Estimates Report highlighted the Government’s commitment to continued strong financial management to achieve its Fiscal Targets.
“The Government continues to make progress against its Fiscal Strategy Targets and all Targets are expected to be achieved by 2014-15
“The important financial indicator of Net Debt has improved compared to the estimate included in the 2012-13 Budget.
“The Net Operating Balance is now estimated to be a deficit of $327 million in 2012-13 (Budget $283 million), improving to a surplus of $251 million by 2014-15.”
“Net Debt is now estimated to be $37 million in 2012-13 (Budget $134 million), improving to negative Net Debt of $347 million by 2014-15.”
“The 2012-13 Revised Estimates Report also includes important additional expenditure that is strongly focussed on stimulating new investment and jobs growth and supporting priority service areas.”
Additional funding allocated in the 2012-13 Revised Estimate Report includes:
• $24.5 million for the Tasmanian Jobs Packaged announced by the Treasurer;
• $35.9 million for Out-of-Home Care and Child Protection Services;
• $6 million for the National Disability Insurance Scheme Launch Sites; and
• $10 million for Corrective Services.
Mr Bacon said that the Revised Estimates Report also included updated economic forecasts and projections for the Tasmanian economy.
“Unfortunately, the strong Australian dollar continues to put pressure on Tasmania’s export and import competing sectors,” Mr Bacon said.
“That’s why the Government is investing in the Tasmanian Jobs Package* to do everything we can to support existing jobs and to help businesses to create new ones.”
Mr Bacon said that updated financial information for the year to 31 December 2012 will be included in the December Quarterly Report due to be released by 15 February 2013 and updated Budget estimates will be included in the 2013-14 Budget Papers.
A copy of the Revised Estimates Report 2012-13 can be found at http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au.
• *All about that jobs package: ABC Online: Premier unveils jobs plan
The Tasmanian Government is going a further $44 million into the red to stimulate the economy.
It is spending $25 million on business grants, increasing the first home builder grant, funding small infrastructure projects throughout state and introducing a payroll tax rebate for new jobs created.
It predicts the plan will create more than 3,000 jobs.
The Premier, Lara Giddings, says the time is right for the stimulus package.
“We’ve seen a pick up in GST which has helped,” she said.
“We also had some drop in our state revenues and what we can do by stimulating jobs is actually help our state revenues as well.”
The Government has also announced a $36 million increase in spending on child protection services and $10 million for corrective services.
Ms Giddings says the unemployment rate of 6.8 per cent is too high.
She says it is a Government plan, not a Labor election platform.
“What the jobs package is today is a modest push in the right direction, it’s not just an all-out free spend-for-all,” she said.
etc ...
• GREENS SUPPORT JOBS PACKAGE
Nick McKim MP
Greens Leader
Monday, 10 December 2012
The Tasmanian Greens Leader Nick McKim MP today welcomed the Premier’s announcement of a new economic package aimed at creating jobs and boosting economic confidence.
“This is a pro-active stimulus from a Labor-Green government, which will help to ensure that businesses have the confidence to invest and to create jobs,” Mr McKim said.
“As we move through this economic transition, it’s important to continue to stimulate the economy in carefully targeted ways.”
Mr McKim said the Greens were pleased that the Revised Estimates Report released today showed that the Government had a clear plan to return to surplus across the forward estimates.
“There’s no doubt that the State Budget has taken a substantial hit because of declining GST revenue, which is why the Greens have argued the need for a more flexible fiscal strategy across the forward estimates,” Mr McKim said.
• What Lara says ...
Lara Giddings
Premier
Monday 10th Dec 2012
Tasmanian Jobs Package
The Tasmanian Jobs Package will support the creation of over 3300 jobs and leverage around $375 million in private investment, the Premier, Lara Giddings, said today.
Ms Giddings said the package is designed to lift confidence and provide an immediate boost to the economy.
“The Tasmanian Government is committed to growing jobs and opportunities for Tasmanians,” Ms Giddings said.
“We have seen the creation of 1400 new jobs since May and more than 2000 direct and indirect jobs have been secured through agreements with major industrial companies like Norske Skog, Pacific Aluminium and BHP Temco.
“We readily acknowledge that more needs to be done to bring the unemployment rate down.
“The Tasmanian Jobs Package has been designed to boost confidence and maximise jobs in the state.
“The included measures have been carefully considered in consultation with industry stakeholders to provide an immediate positive economic impact.”
The $24.5 million package includes the following initiatives:
• More than doubling the first home owners grant for construction of new homes to $15,000. The First Home Builders Boost will go for 18 months beginning on 1 January 2013 and is estimated to support the construction of 1100 new first homes and the creation of 1800 new jobs.
• Reintroducing the successful payroll tax rebate for all new jobs created from today up until 30 June 2014 and maintained until 30 June 2015. This scheme is a proven performer, creating 876 jobs in 2009/10 and 843 jobs in the 2011/12. Based on previous results it is expected the tax rebate will support the creation of 850 new jobs.
• $2.5 million in additional funding for the Tasmanian Government Innovation and Investment Fund or TGIIF to leverage around $11 million in private investment and create 170 new jobs.
• $3 million for community infrastructure including maintenance, renovations and upgrades of Community and Neighbourhood houses. 30 new jobs.
• $2.8 million investment in Northern infrastructure projects including the Seaport boardwalk expansion, the upgrade of lights at Aurora Stadium and the creation of the Hollybank Mountain Bike Park for the combined creation of 80 new jobs.
• Tassal processing plant: The State Government is providing a grant of up to $440,000 to assist in the upgrade of infrastructure and systems required for processing at George Town Seafoods. 22 new jobs.
• Clearing the way for Parliament Square to secure $100 million in private investment and 400 jobs.
• An additional $1 million for tourism marketing to promote Tasmania and maximise take up of additional airline seats.
• $400,000 to support the dairy industry’s ‘Filling the Factories’ program which aims to secure another 355 mega litres of milk supply in Tasmania and create 550 on-farm jobs.
Ms Giddings said the relatively modest outlay will make a massive contribution to job creation and private investment.
“The package is a key part of my agenda for 2013 which will focus on jobs, people and opportunities.
“I look forward to seeing more Tasmanians find jobs as a result of the strong action we have taken today.”
Ms Giddings said the Revised Estimates Report, also released today, showed the measures were affordable because the 2012/13 Budget remains on track to return to surplus and eliminate net debt.
“This plan is fully costed and will be rolled-out immediately, unlike the Liberal Opposition’s so-called stimulus plan which amounts to little more than marketing slogans and weasel words.”
• ACL welcomes increased spending on the needy in Tas
The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has today welcomed an announcement by the Tasmanian government that it will invest more money into child protection, corrections and the National Disability Scheme (NDS).
The news came on the back of the unveiling of a stimulus package designed to create more jobs and boost the economy.
It included plans to increase spending on child protective services by nearly $36 million and $10 million for corrective services over the next four years. It also promised $6 million towards the NDS.
ACL’s Tasmanian Director Mark Brown has commended the government for its commitment to support the vulnerable and needy.
“We applaud the state government in channeling money to some of the community’s most needy - especially children.
“We have been particularly concerned with the past cuts to child protection on top of significant increases in the number of children in out of home care,” he said.
Mr Brown said that although it is a tough financial environment we must continue to ensure the most vulnerable in our community are prioritised.
“There are many sectors working with the most vulnerable who could do with extra help but this is a step in the right direction,” he said.
Show Comments
Comments (21)
You get the results you vote for and it’s easy to see the vast majority of Tasmanians vote for fools, so get foolish outcomes.
None of the parties have a clue about anything and the empty headed elitists who run local government as just as bad, not a clue or idea. The answers to all our future problems are there to be seen, easily implemented and guaranteed to turn this state into a vision the worlds could taken on and turn the future around.
There is no visions for the future from these fools how can you have a future visions when your mind is firmly trapped in the past clinging to policies, directions and leadership which represents incompetence, complete ignorance of real life and failure to understand the reality of what we face in the future. The solutions are simple and only the ideologically blind refuse to see them.
A great story Bob Hawkins. Isn’t it a pity our so-called ‘leaders’ don’t understand that their vain posturings and deceptive manoeuvres will still be available on YouTube in 50 years time? Thats what digital technology is all about Lara, Nick and Will, and the fact you are still being sucked-in to a 19th century ‘time capsule’ idea shows you all do live in the past.
Well put Bob.
The reality is that we do not need these people.
We are capable of doing our own research, consulting with others, and reaching our own conclusions.
We don’t need party ‘representatives’ to do it for us…not now and probably not ever.
The only people really listening to our ‘leaders’ are those to whom they are giving our money…buying attention is about all they can do.
Our ‘leaders’ have no real life or practical experience, and continue to use the same bureaucratic public service that is bound up in rules and regulations from the 19th century.
We could all vote on issues by mobile phone. We don’t need unskilled and out-of-touch ‘representatives’ to do it for us.
Oh dear, it is obvious from the comments from the “big four” that they do not have clue.
To them it will be business as usual.
They talk of more tourism, increased population, people escaping to Tasmania from overseas to avoid climate change, residents still growing crops and fishing,
more confidence in investing, and so on ad nauseum.
They just do not get that peak oil will stifle the present transport system ( such as it is) and also the tourism industry and the valley will be an isolated community depending perhaps on wood fired steamers as in the old days to provide communication.
The driving into Hobart and back each day to do an non productive job shuffling papers around will have withered away to nothing.
If the internet is still up and running by then, there maybe some jobs going there but not enough to supply income for all of the residents that will be here by then.
It might surprise them that climate change will come to the valley as well and it will put pressure on existing facilities by cutting some roads that are very close to the sea now and will probably be under water by then.
Hopefully there still be electricity available but with a much reduced rainfall to fill the dams I would not bet on a continuous supply.
A lot of the goods imported from the mainland will be unobtainable as the price of fuel raises costs of shipping across Bass Strait and this will also limit any exports we may be able to produce.
As for the fishing, well there will be so few left after the sea has become polluted and also acidic that very little will remain to be caught.
The fish farms will be long gone due to a lack of an export market and the high coat of shipping out the product and shipping in the feed.
The liberal catch cry of “open for business” and “more investment” will have faded away and a very good thing too. More investment always strikes as a politician with a begging bowl on the street, asking for a hand out or selling off a treasured possessions to stay afloat a bit longer.
I do not know what can be found to provide a replacement for the slash and burn economy we are used to. I am continually seeking an answer to that but I think it will come down to a village agriculture system similar to the pre industrial era.
We do have a lot more knowledge now that we had then and we will be able to acquire some of the old skills long lost or exported abroad to third world countries so it not be all bad.
I just hope that we have a better system of government in place so that a clique of well off people do not take control and run the valley the way they think it should be run and do not allow any input from their “surfs’.
Gee, Robert, you must be a blast at parties!
Yes #5 , #4 does have the ring of melancholy to it.
Re #4 and #5 ... a blast at parties Robert may be, but what he says is likely to be true. The only doubt is the timeframe.
Electric trains/tram lines will be needed along major road routes once the oil price reaches a certain point. It’s either that or we all stay home.
Long live TT as market place of ideas. I present this for inclusion in the Time Capsule as a Citizen’s perspective from 2012.
In 2062, in the main street of Franklin, there stands an 8 foot square block of E. regnans with 247 names carved on it.
After tall wet forests were reserved in 2015, Tasmanian E. nitens plantations were returned to E. obliqua and E. regnans, and the roads allowed to grow over. Forests were split into local Community Forest Preservation Boards, run by tree-changers and former tree sitters. The boards adopted biodiversity, human exclusion and the prospect of a never-to-be-realized carbon cult as their goals. All dithered with tall wet forest succession but for years everything was fine. Meanwhile fuel loads built to 300-500 tonnes per hectare between the Styx and the Huon. The drought of 2047 dried the lot to a crisp, then a lightning storm blew up the Observer Tree (Miranda had descended to earth in 2015). Blazing bits lit the bush and the north westerly funnelled by a blocking high over the Tasman sent a blaze over the Snowy Range past Lonnavale through to Geeveston. The afternoon’s strong westerly change did the rest. It drove a 70 km north-east front over the Kermandie hills which swamped the foothills from Franklin to Huonville with a 470KW m-1 crown fire. Sparks flew and ignited similar forests from Ferntree to New Norfolk. That fell day, from Geeveston to Hobart, 247 souls were incinerated.
In the wash up folks at last realized the fire ecology of tall wet eucalypts. They finally grasped that managing it as a planned patchwork of regenerating clearfells on rotations of 60-400 years was the only way to tame E. regnans and wetter obliqua, cool burns would be used tactically in drier north slopes. The CFPBs were sacked. The work was allocated to professionals knowledgeable in ligno-cellulose growth and decay, meteorology, fire behaviour, roading, ecology, wildlife, botany and importantly, resource planning. Much had to be re-learned in 35 years without forest management or forestry training, but a full set of Tasforests was found in a Hobart attic so they had a good start. The staff was based in the Franklin branch of the Tasmanian Forest Management Commission, the last word deliberately placed to remind the public of the Royal Commission that finally saw sense and reinstated Forest Management. The TFMC protected the district from fire with the patchwork management of forests, and was self-funded through sales of a regular supply of logs, chips and biofuel. The same management was extended to all Tasmania’s tall wet euc forests, as those within reservations posed exactly the same hazards.
Between Geeveston, Franklin and Huonville in 2062 there are now (i) three mills that do 170,000m3 year, (ii) a dozen timber manufacturing plants, (iii) 127 odd carpenters, (iv) an export wharf, and (v) a biofuel boiler at Port Huon, plus (vi) surrounding service industries. Franklin’s wood products are proudly sold worldwide under the AFS Carbon Neutral® logo; one which buyers finally realised far surpassed the carbon balance of other construction materials. Franklin homes continue to be built from wood. Tall wet forest ecology is taught in high schools. Biodiversity returned in droves, and Tasmanian devils emerged from the bush in such numbers that after stocking the world’s zoos the only option left was to adopt them as pets. Franklin’s remarkable Saturday woodworking market is mentioned as a must-see in Forbes. Here, the many visitors spend their serious cash on organic free-range wooden goods of unique cultural resonance, and chat (about informed living in balance with nature) with locals out taking their devils for a stroll.
The Franklin story was the only instance (apart from Warner brothers) when Tasmania caught the world’s attention. Impressed by Franklin’s resilience; China, India and Japan adopted Franklin’s Australian Forestry Standard and told Bonn to stick their FS(double)Standard. Countries such as Germany, Finland and that country in the armpit of the Aegean were among those clamouring to join, and were finally admitted only after a lengthy and soul-searching reformation of their forest practices to actually match their local ecology.
Franklin’s wooden boat corporation builds largely with eucalypt, and recently launched eight 170 foot clipper each with a one-piece keel cut from ‘Gandalf’s Staff’. These sail the oceans promoting SEAFS and Carbon Neutral®. Crewed by volunteers, any crew member foolish enough to parrot idealistic eco-weenie nonsense is taken to the gunwale by the burly captain. There he holds them over the side by the ankles and shakes all that green rubbish right out of them.
I suppose they participated in it for the the superficial crumb of publicity.
Should the full statements be published in an open media I think it would promote a useful little apprenticeship in self reflection !
I do love TT for allowing that opportunity!
Re #3 - Mike Bolan has it right, our system of government should now take advantage of the technology available so we can govern ourselves.
We can have decisions based on what most people want, and not what a select few think we want, or what they want to inflict on us for their own benefit.
The dinosaur system we have was built in a different world. It’s time to dismantle it.
It is also obvious that communities that prepare now for the coming era of expensive and/or limited energy will do much better than those who leave it for later.
I so enjoyed that post by hugoagogo on 11/12/12 at 12:35 AM. It is a vision, a real exercise in imagining a future. I might not want the same things exactly but it is good and so refreshing to read it.
I especially like the idea of Franklin as the centre of a working waterfront, building timber ketches and schooners to carry produce around the coasts using wind power. Sawmills cutting timber from well managed forests with only the genuine waste getting chipped and going to local pulp and paper manufacture (that is what we were promised forty years ago). I’m not a luddite. I love technology but I need sustainability and to me the future is wooden.
#8 I appreciate that.
#11, Ros: Where shall we site this pulp mill you speak of?
#8: A much appreciated comment. If only our leaders could exercise their imaginations in this way. If they did, then we could have seriously creative debates on the real issues.
#11 and #12: I seem to remember there was fairly general support (Greens included) for a pulp mill site, but it wasn’t on the Tamar. In fact, I think it was somewhere where the affected community wanted it to be.
Like Ros I salute Hugoagogo’s creativity and knowledge combined.
Also while not quite aligned with his views, the tendency of the future to depart wildly from what we all expect, and to be rapid and radical, has been well established in the past!
May we live in exciting times, but PLEASE lets get on with storing carbon lest we all burn, one way or another. That part of it is deadly serious.
wow
an increase in the lab-greens bank card limit
& all to be left to the libs to pay off
why only a smallish increase or is the first of several before the election.
I quite liked 8# hugoagogo’s fairy tale for the future. Why is it a fairytale? Because vested interests and big money will never allow this placid rural idyll.
There is always going to be a Gunns or a Federal Hotels lurking in the CBD, just waiting to buy up a likely prospect to strip the assets out and pillage whatever they can for more profit.
They will be aided and abetted in this by whichever of the ruling parties are “in” at the time.
I am of the opinion that the large majority of Tasmanians would be pleased with the scenario Hugoagogo gives us and would accept reasonable forestry for use by the building, furniture, house building, and allied trades to use. It’s when you see a procession of trucks wending their way to a chip mill and the chips being exported by the millions of tons to Asia, that they say,“hey wait a minute, this is not what we were told. would happen. it was only going to be “waste” from the mills.
I differ with him in some ways about the huge fire danger we will build up if we stop clear felling. Some research in the US has shown that where there has been clear felling and a regrowth forest, the inevitable fire will burn hotter than an old growth wet forest.
Non of this has been proven but I ask what it was like before the arrival of the Europeans and their forestry practice?
It has been just about been proved that the aboriginals did not burn off areas of the bush deliberately. When it happened it was caused by lightning or possibly by accident.
I was a sea captain and I have a definite green tinge of which I am proud.
I am a bit of a killjoy at parties but I wonder if I saw someone standing in front of a large truck that was about to run them down, would they like me to shout “hey get out of the way”, or just let it happen?
Wow thanks guys. I only loaded the doc in to see if it fit the word limit, and pressed the wrong button, and it said ‘post accepted’!
So I’ve been terrified ever since to come back to see how it would be received!
There’s a few needles in there and I hope all are tickled or amused. Even Frank.
Obviously I’m fired up and greatly opposed to the passive management of native forests. It’s a road that doesn’t match human society and passive management in the same place. We have to face up to the biggest questions.
My Tasmanian Forest Management Commission is little different to FT. Whatever happens in the meantime, you will come back to something like FT. Or you could just stick with them now.
The reference to “TasForests” is a plug for FT, whose scientists and managers know these forests and how to look after them. I challenge anyone to assemble a better team. I hope their staff saw this, reprinted it and handed it around, and had a laugh. Well done guys.
#8 I’m a visionary? Muchos gracious!
Now where’s that preview button?
Oops. I’ve done it again!
Hello hugagogo, what a delight to see into the inner workings of your vast encyclopedic mind, I hadn’t realized you were such a keen visionary, (of which I am advised that you must posses a paid up membership to be associated with the Spoon-Benders Society of Tasmania.
This being so what are the prospects of you and I engaging in some deep and meaningful dialogue just prior to Melbourne Cup 2013?
One of your references was for this bold new concept you have envisioned, is that our futures ought to be referred to some mythical group of knowledgeable professionals, do please do be sure that this does ‘not incorporate’ those current quasi-knowledgeable types, such as Bryan (the giggler) Green or the Bobster as they have already generously contributed and delivered unto us, this current woefully unstable and misleading lot of Jefferyist inspired mental whiz-bangers, whom you may have noticed, have landed the State’s humble taxpaying people deep into this wholly unsustainable profitless and perplexing imbroglio.
Furthermore how is it possible for any changes to be introduced when this State is Bankus-Ruptus, all due to the incessant demands from the present pro-logging oligarchy and silk-suited forestry moguls in their already having emptied the State’s cash register?
This in itself has done nought but fund the lifestyle and status of each of these gravy-train luxuriators, whereby at the train-stop they soon gather in their secretive crony huddles to engage in their lavish feeding frenzy upon the humble hard-suffering taxpayers purse?
I recall watching a video of the way of life in North Korea, where the ‘oligarchy’ are obliged to starve and yell for severe beatings to be layed upon almost their population so that the top level sanctioned torturers and slave camp proprietor’s can continue their opulent lifestyles.
So dear hugoagogo my vision may contain somewhat less of the bantering spoon-bending optimism of your fairyland fictions as held in your light-hearted poke into our futures.
How about you give us anothery hugoagogo.
Friend William.
#8 Hugoagogo
I take it you somewhat enamoured with forestry professionals.
Wikepedia “and thus the necessity to place a great deal of trust in them, most professionals are subject to strict codes of conduct enshrining rigorous ethical and moral obligations.”
In the management of our forests for all the values the community hold of them , could you explain how local foresters have achieved this to the satisfaction of the broader community. I particular what a Tasmanian foresters ethical and moral obligations are.
Maybe they having just following orders.
It would be interesting to see what what a survey of somewhat informed community members would say on the other hand.
Does your vision contain a professional paradigm change?
No 19.
Regarding these paradigm changes, morality and ethics of yours.
Please give examples of each that doubtless you judge necessary in the fields of say agriculture, dentistry, immunization, plumbing, and public relations. Presumably they all took appropriate oaths.
Then I may have (i) enough rope to address your probing questions, or (ii) enough information to hoist you on your own petard.
Billy,
Please allow me to prostrate myself before the master of spoon bending in yourself.
Your request for a rendezvous next early November implies that you regard my scenario as true. So thanks. Unfortunately, I can’t name the Cup winner of 2013, and even if I could, my professional morals and ethics would prohibit it, at least in the present gambling paradigm.
I can however definitely advise that a horse named Regnans Holocaust will get up in Tasmania between now and 2062. If the track is unmanaged it’ll get home by 30 lengths, jump the fence and trample half the crowd.
BTW this North Korean whipping video of yours; you’ve mentioned it several times so I presume you have a CD or some other recording of it. Whichever, reading you it seems to me you’ve been watching it far too much.