Paul’s Great White Elephant Park

WELCOME to Paul Lennon’s New Tasmania … aka the Biggest White Elephant Safari Park in the Southern Hemisphere.

Paul’s overseeing of the Bacon-Lennon vision has been deeply impressive.

He is managing quite perfectly a strategy to denude the island of its native flora and fauna and re-populate it with the fascinating White Elephant which has the Sydney Spot 3 travellers (admittedly in limited numbers) gawping in such wonderment.

Already, equally fascinated political observers are saying that this Premier is impressive enough to be the Robin Gray of the 21st century. (The Labor/Green Accord dug us out of that one; who’s going to rescue us this time?)

Consider the list of White Elephant species roaming (one sadly extinct) the once luxuriant, now firebombed and denuded wild places of our little island home:

Basslink, Basslink’s $2.3b sting:

TASMANIAN taxpayers are stuck with an obligation to pay $2.3 billion over the next 25 years to the British company that owns and operates the new Basslink power link to the mainland. The annual report of Hydro Tasmania, tabled in Parliament yesterday, revealed for the first time that the Tasmanian fee to use the electricity cable connection will be about $92 million a year until 2030.

Read the latest: HERE

Governor Butler

Spirit 3

Meander Dam

Bicheno Call Centre

Gas Rollout

Pulp Mill

Intelligent Island

Hag also hears there may be another dubious investment in the wings: A sound stage, brainchild of Screen Tasmania.

As part of the ongoing attempt to buy votes with big-spending underscored by no policy direction Hag understands the Government is shortly to announce the financing of a sound stage — in conjunction with the ABC.

This would be good news were it not for the fact Screen Tasmania has so spectacularly failed to either champion the cause
of getting more production for Tasmania’s struggling ABC or to achieve what was its original aim — the production of low-budget Tasmanian films.

A little history: Screen Tasmania rose directly from the ashes of the Tony Rundle government’s limited vision. The Rundle government refused to support writer Richard Flanagan’s feature film, The South of One Hand Clapping; incidentally the last feature film to be made in Tasmania.

At the time, Flanagan and Roar Film’s Steve Thomas lobbied all and sundry, urging the creation of that which every state — except Tasmania — had: a state film body.

Then Premier Jim Bacon ran with the proposal and formed Screen Tasmania.

In Hag’s view it has failed to live up to its promise.

Screen Tasmania appears to have received much money … but please, can someone tell poor Hag, what Screen Tas has achieved?

What successes there have been seem to have been in spite of Screen Tasmania. Thomas’ Roar Film has been a conspicuous success … but appears to have had scant Screen Tas backing.

In fact, Hag hears rumours of much frustration and anger among local filmmakers and the ABC; anger which has bubbled over with questions about exactly where Screen Tas has spent all its money.

Now, rumours of the sound stage plan have seen one or two of the disgruntled bubble over to boiling point. This would not be a cheap exercise … perhaps just another White Elephant species.

Hag invites readers to add, below, any species missed off her list …

Earlier:
Troubled Spirit and The Truth