WHILE THERE will be justified criticism of the Tasmanian Government for this week giving the Walker Corporation such ringing endorsement in the face of community outrage, it is unfair to lump all members of the Lennon ministry in with their Leader on the Ralphs Bay issue.
Paul Lennon has this week shown utter contempt for the Cabinet process, throwing the Government’s support behind this obnoxious canal estate proposal before Cabinet discussion and decision. We have witnessed a clear and present abuse of power.
He knows not everyone in Cabinet and the broader Parliamentary ALP supports his view that the Walker plan is worthy of Project of State Significance status. That’s why it was whipped off the agenda twice. It’s a subdivision proposal for Heaven’s sake! And, poll after poll has shown it’s a stinker at the grassroots. Why is this publicly and politically unpopular, environmentally toxic, proposal being rammed through to the RPDC?
It is absolute codswallop for the Premier to suggest this is a decision for the planning commission, and not his Government. He has unilaterally made a decision that this proposal should receive special treatment. And, a decision has been made that a high-conservation value public bay and treasured parcel of Crown Land may well be handed over to a billionaire private developer.
There is overt dissent in ALP branches over this issue, with the West Hobart and Clarence Plains branches making no secret of their total disapproval of a Labor government treating a community and precious coastline with such disregard.
There are enlightened souls in the Lennon Cabinet who now face a dilemma: to roll over and accept they have no say in the decision, or to stand up to Paul and risk unleashing the perception of a Leader’s weakened hold on power?
Paula Wriedt and Lara Giddings in particular, are in an invidious position. Their Franklin Labor colleague has shrugged off their electoral concerns, without a ministerial or party consensus being reached. If the buck is passed to the RPDC, the Ralphs Bay issue will stay on the boil right up to, and during, the next state election … on both sides of the River Derwent and beyond.
The remaining Cabinet members must also now realise Lennon’s grip is too tight, and his electoral antennae, malfunctioning. State Labor has been slipping in the polls ever since shortly after Paul Lennon assumed control …
He doesn’t — apparently can’t — accept a dissenting view. He tells residents on one hand their views will be heard in any decision on whether to accept the POSS, then later pretends he said no such thing.
Yet he has an open door policy to the likes of Lang Walker and Graham Richardson
He refuses to meet concerned community members, despite repeated, polite requests to do so. He does not respond to critical written correspondence.
Yet, he has an open door policy to the likes of Lang Walker and Graham Richardson because he is easily impressed by big money plans. The culmination is the Premier’s decision this week to abandon the proper Cabinet process in the name of private interests.
Sadly, Paul Lennon’s depth of understanding on environmental issues is limited by his develop-at-any-cost mindset, and a heart hardened to any debate with a green tinge. As a member for Franklin with its myriad estuarine and coastal inlets, he should be more informed about the true values at stake here and what they represent to his constituents. He should read the State of the Derwent and State of the Environment Reports 2004.
To claim — as the Premier has — that the Liberals’ progressive stand on Ralphs Bay would take Tasmanian back 20 years is to insult the intelligence. Canal estates come from the Surfers Paradise School of Seventies Dinosaur design. They have no place in Tasmania in the 21st Century.
Tasmania, exquisite island of the south; a place where unspoiled coastline has long been preserved for all to share … is being run by the wrong man for the times we live in.
This is a strongly held personal opinion, not expressed on behalf of the Save Ralphs Bay group.
(http://www.saveralphsbay.org/)
Earlier: Libs canal plan shock
Albert M. Dollar
September 1, 2005 at 07:33
. . . In terms of Ralphs Bay and the Derwent Estuary that belongs to us all, by openly backing a Sydney billionaire developer over his own constituents, Premier Paul Lennon has confused DICTATORSHIP for LEADERSHIP.
. . . wait, what is that sound?
. . . do you hear it? . . . in amongst the background clatter of a Tasmanian government out-of-touch and plunging in the polls?
. . . sounds like Tasmanian ALP members all thinking exactly the same thing at the same time. . . .
sounds like . . . “MIGHT BE TIME FOR PAUL TO GO”?
Albert M. Dollar
Hobart, Tasmania
Brenda Rosser
September 1, 2005 at 10:15
Is it possible that the next state election might result in an electoral move away from institutionalised and legalised corruption?
‘civilisation [is] a thin and precarious crust erected by the personality and will of the few, and only maintained by rules and conventions skilfully put across and guilefully preserved.’
John Maynard Keynes
(Ald) Jeff Briscoe
September 1, 2005 at 11:08
On the day Premier Paul Lennon was blasting the Liberals over their enlighted view about the Ralphs Bay proposal in the media and bullying his Labor colleagues, gale force winds and high tides were bashing the edge of Ralphs Bay.
I personally witnessed that night vast quantities of salty water being blown all over the South Arm Road; indeed the high tide was threatening to flood it. Workers at the local businesses including the local service station were brave in working in such conditions.
So, Mr Lennon and Mr Walker, take a walk along the shore (keep to the road if you like) of Ralphs Bay on such any such windy night or day (and they are common). If you can stand upright, remain warm and dry, and picture the hundreds of ‘desirable’ canal houses and boats in the water I will then know for sure that you are not in touch with reality now or into the future.
The winds of time and history are starting to blow as well, not quite gale force yet but they are not blowing in your direction Premier Lennon!
Keep up the good work Cassy and the rest of the Save Ralphs Bay group!