John White, Bryan Green, and The Promenade

Ken White

Make no bones about it, the residents of Clark Avenue are powerful, with connections; and are articulate to boot so the Councillors virtually walked into an urban ambush so bad that it took years for the Councillors to recover. Whalers Walk was figuratively dead in the water.

ADDING to a long line of woes, stood-down Deputy Premier Green’s problems were compounded by myself who wrote a submission to the Legislative Council inquiry into ‘the dealings of Bryan Green & John White on possibly serious charges.’

My data is the same data which the Leader of the Opposition Will Hodgman presented to the House of Assembly two weeks ago thereby making another connection between mates Bryan Green and John White in their dealings outside the confines of parliamentary procedure. How my submission got from the Legislative Council to the House of Assembly I do not know.

These allegations were in addition to the dealings involving Building Compliance Tasmania, the Eaglehawk Neck industrial affair involving another mate, Michael Field, and other affairs still being investigated. My submission was in regard to The Promenade at Battery Point.

Submission to the Legislative Council Inquiry
Together with Des Hanlon, then President of the Battery Point National Trust, I was the other person who originally proposed the modern version of The Promenade that goes around the Battery Point to join the city and Sandy Bay by a low-level way that is suitable for pedestrians and cyclists alike.

During  the period that Bryan Green was Minister for the Environment he made a  ministerial decision to not go ahead with the project; so trying to stifle the debate. 

The small influential anti-promenade group of Clark Avenue, Battery Point have John White as one of their strong supporters and it is now well documented that this same John White is a mate of Bryan Green and the subject of inquiries.

About this period in the Promenade debate the dogs were barking that John White was having undue influence in this ministerial decision.

While such a decision by Bryan Green is not a hanging offence it could  possibly be an abuse of Ministerial power in light of his other, at this moment, alleged indiscretions.

Yours Sincerely,
Ken White

Historical background
Proposals for a way around the lower reaches of the Battery Point started not long after settlement so I will confine this piece to a period within the time of many still living. One such proposed path around the foreshore of Battery Point came to light during the Great Depression of the early 1930s.

It was in that era that a walkway project was again considered by the Premier of the day, Albert Olgilvie, together with another make-work scheme; the Pinnacle Road to Mount Wellington.

Ever since, at about 15 year intervals, different proposals have been put forward with varying degrees of public acceptance.

The previous concept of a walkway, titled Whalers Walk, around the ‘Point played a pivotal part in the formulation of the current Promenade proposal. This was around the mid-90s.

The Hobart City Council of the day drew up plans of the Whalers Walk and with a great flourish presented them to the ratepayers whereupon a public meeting was called at Battery Point which some City Councillors attended.

Make no bones about it, the residents of Clark Avenue are powerful, with connections; and are articulate to boot so the Councillors virtually walked into an urban ambush so bad that it took years for the Councillors to recover. Whalers Walk was figuratively dead in the water.

Even years later when that meeting was recalled, in the hearing of those Councillors, you could still see the fear in their eyes. The only time I can remember such fearful eyes was when a Chinese friend was recalling her danger in the Cultural Revolution involving the Gang of Four.

Des Hanlon, mindful of this ambush, had the Councillors briefed (educated) so that when the inevitable Promenade storm struck they were able to hold their line and send back a few volleys in return.

By now, 2006, the Hobart City Council had spent much time and a considerable amount of money on important investigative work for The Promenade and on any vote taken in Council there has been no less than 90% backing.

The Lord Mayor and sometime the then deputy have spoken out against The Promenade but their heart did not seem to be in their speeches; sounding more like someone had written it for them.

Maybe also we can find out under FOI how the Findlay Street Park became the AJWhite Memorial Park; when I remember Alfie White lived in West Hobart.

Ken White has spent a considerable part of his working life as a woolclasser and before that, a period as a shearer. Mixd up in that time frame he has tried his hand at more jobs than the average person would get to do in two or three lifetimes. From milkman, boatbuilder, tally clerk on the wharf, salesman, (he once sold a Websters Dictionary to a blind man), wilderness guide, owned and operated a roadhouse, sold furs through the Hudson Bay Company, and travelled a considerable amount, for example, 1700 km by bicycle in Vietnam. The last 10 years have been spent travelling extensively, riding bicycles, windsurfing, canoeing, playing badminton and bushwalking as well as writing.