What a pity Sue Napier no longer finds the need to speak out against such an abuse of human rights.

She did in 1992 – when she found herself affected directly.

Here’s an extract of her inaugural speech:
Hon. Sue NAPIER MHA
Electorate: BASS
Inaugural speech: 14 April 1992

“…On another point, I have a headline here that reads ‘Hillwood’. The smoke-laden skies of the Tamar valley over the past week bring me to the issue of balanced sustainable development within a quality living environment.

To put it another way, everyone has some green in them so let not any government pretend otherwise lest it face the wrath of current and future generations. I left my door on Monday 6 April choking with smoke caught in an inversion over Launceston and actually thinking my house was on fire, to find that by accident a large bark dump, 50-feet high, had caught alight while a burn-off was being conducted by Forest Resources with due approval from the Department of Environment and Planning and the Tasmania Fire Service.

This should never have happened; such an accident should have been foreseen. However what we need to look at now is what we are going to do not only for the people of Hillwood but for the Tamar valley because at the moment the Tamar valley is choking and I cannot see it continuing for the next six months.

I realise the Government is very urgently trying to take steps to resolve this problem. Of course it was not helped by the fire bombing of a reafforestation area at Lilydale at the same time. However the proposed installation of a high-temperature incinerator has been rejected by another company, in part due to the difficulty of ensuring that air pollution will not result.

I believe that Associated Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd is turning a deal of this waste into mulch and taking the rest back to the forests and I say hear, hear.

This issue should not be confused with my support for the significant steps taken by forestry and related industries in accepting the Forest Practices Code inclusive of skyline retention, creek bed preservation, the breeding of high quality rapid growth cultivars, and the regeneration and plantation policies.

True, I look forward to our producing our own paper and allied forestry products, especially in the design area, rather than exporting woodchips. However woodchips are one of Tasmania’s major exports and were worth $200 million in 1990-91 out of a total of $1 347 million, as can be readily seen from the recent Curran Report. “

[But how much did it cost Tasmania to cope with the enormous cost of financial subsidies, the fall out of ecosystem destruction, road accidents and human health impacts? Indeed is the industry economically viable? One can’t tell if the most costs are not priced into the equation.]

She goes on to say:

“But I am sure that both the forest industries and the Government can creatively respond to these challenges which include the question of disposal of waste.”

The speech:
Sue Napier:

[So, Napier was CERTAIN the industry could respond. What happened?]

Brenda Rosser is a smallholder at West Calder, near Wynyard